Little White Lies
by Conaleigh Leonhart
Summary: The sequel to Twisted. Nathan and Haley are in college now, enjoying life as newlywed freshman, but... well, things just might get a little bit complicated. It's Nathan and Haley, when isn't it complicated?
1. Hear You Me

**Well, here it is, the sequel to Twisted. It's set a couple of months were we left off, and Nathan and Haley are at college now. Um... enjoy?**

**Oh yeah, and there is underage drinking here (I'm english, and by the time I remembered the drinking age was 21 in America, I'd already done three chapters. Still, I'm sure college kids drink all the time anyway, regardless of age. Right? _Right?_) so I apologise if that offends you.**

**Little White Lies**

**Hear You Me**

**Haley**

The cue ball hits the red snooker ball with a thud and it zips smoothly into the corner pocket. I straighten up and blow the end of my pool cue like it's a smoking barrel.

"You are such a dork," my friend Gwen laughs. I smile at her and raise an eyebrow.

"A dork that's beating you down girlfriend," I say in a valley girl accent, which causes Gwen to laugh more, her pale green eyes sparkling with laughter. You know, I really love having a friend who thinks that I'm funny. It's great. To her I'm not 'tutor girl' (though I did come to love that nickname), I'm just Haley, a friend who happens to be a little bit funny. I don't know, maybe the changes in my life have changed me too. Internally.

Nah. I'm still a geek.

I go for another ball and it narrowly misses the pocket. "You're up," I tell Gwen, who pushes a strand of almost-black hair behind her ear and considering all angles as if she's in some kind of championship pool game, instead of an after-class friendly game with her dorm mate. She takes her shot and misses by about a mile. God, I love this girl. She tries so hard and she just never gets it right. She reminds me of me in this game… until Nathan taught me all the tricks and stuff. Now, I'm pretty damn good if I do say so myself.

"Do you want another drink?" I ask after I've potted the black and Gwen is pouting like the sore loser she is. "Because uh… I think you owe me this one too." I wink at her and go to the bar anyway. She smiles at me and sends telepathic waves of thanks. We kind of decided to give them to each other in the first week. You know, telepathic waves of desperation (like "Oh my God, this loser is chatting me up. Help me!"), waves of contentment (like "Um… major cutie here/Nathan is here. Please don't disturb me in the dorm room later"), and waves of thanks (like "I know that this is the fifth time you've kicked my ass at pool and technically I owe you a drink, but thank you for realising that I am a poor student"). Basically, we just read facial expressions, though we have got confused in the past. Getting waves of desperation and contentment mixed up is particularly annoying. Ah, the memories. The first time Gwen met Nathan was a particularly fond one (not at the time, but now we laugh… well, I do), but maybe that's a story for another time.

"Same as usual?" Jan the Sexy Barman asks. Gwen nicknamed himit, and unfortunately it's kind of stuck. I always feel a little pang of guilt when I think it, even though Nathan has heard me call him it and just laughed. A lot. It was kind of insulting actually.

"No, I think I'm going to mix it up a bit Jan the _sexy _barman. Give me two dry martini's. Shaken, not stirred," I ask, doing an impression of James Bond at the end that, I must admit, I am more than a little proud of.

Jan raises an eyebrow and shows off his lovely white teeth. I tell you, if I wasn't taken… I would be desperately unhappy actually. But still, I'm sure Jan the sexy barman could cheer me up a little.

"So… two beer's then?" Jan asks, already getting the bottles from the fridge.

"You know me too well Jan."

"What can I say? I'm just great at my job…"

"And you're great at ogling Gwen."

Jan laughs. "Oh yeah, that too."

I throw the money on the bar top and grab the two bottles, taking them to the table that Gwen has bagged us. She's obviously given up on Pool. Well, if I was being beat that badly, I would have given up _long _ago, I'm telling you.

"Jan likes you," I say in a sing-song voice, handing Gwen the beer. She takes it and swigs it back quickly, but not before I see her cheeks flare up furiously. She thinks I'm teasing, which is ridiculous because Jan has asked her out on a date more than once, but I don't think she actually believes he likes her. They both look like supermodels, but Gwen doesn't seem to notice that. It's kind of cute though, and one of the campus's greatest 'will-they-won't-they' love affairs.

"Hey guys, two beautiful ladies over there."

Me and Gwen turn at the same time to see a group of boys we've never seen before walk into the bar. They look older than us - maybe sophomores - and they're obviously quite full of themselves. Strutting towards us with leers on their faces. Me and Gwen exchange a glance and then take another swig of our beer, waiting for the onslaught.

I can see now that there's four of them, and the leader of the pack - the one who spoke - comes towards me now, leaning on the table. He obviously doesn't get the phrase 'personal space.'

"Hey, I'm Rick," he says with what he assumes is a debonair smile. I look over at Gwen who is rolling her eyes as the other three seem to be fighting over which one approaches her.

"Yeah," I say in a bored drawl, hoping he'll get the hint. I'm tempting to add _'and?'_ but I manage to restrain myself.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he goes on, leaning closer so that I can smell the mint on his breath. Well, you've got to hand it to the guy, he comes prepared. Unfortunately, he's not so good at getting the hint.

"Already got one thanks," I hold up my drink in front of his face, and thankfully he moves back a little so that it doesn't whack him in the nose. Maybe he'll go away now…

Maybe not.

"You're so gorgeous, you know that?" He asks in a voice that makes me want to gag. I can hear Gwen giggle and think that she's laughing at Rick's pathetic attempts, but I look up and see that she's laughing at something one of the guy's has said to her. Genuinely laughing! Honestly!

Okay, so I'm alone. That's okay. I can handle that, I've handled worse after all. I put my drink down and hold my left hand up. On my wedding finger is a yellow gold band with a solitaire diamond on it, bought graciously by Dan Scott. Unfortunately, he doesn't know it yet.

"Uh huh, and I'm so married. Bad luck, huh?"

Rick practically chokes looking at my finger. "But… but you're what… a freshman?"

"That's right. Congratulations."

"And you're married?"

Wow, he's slimy _and _slow. What a winning combination. "That's what I said. Are you having trouble understanding? Do you want me to explain it to you in manageable bitesize chunks?"

"Who are you married _to_?" Rick goes on, still practically spluttering. I throw Gwen an '_is this guy for real?' _look and an grateful when she narrows her eyes at him.

"look dude, she's not interested. Just… move on, okay?" she says. I want to hug her from gratitude. That's exactly what I should have said - '_Look dude, I'm not interested. Just… move on, okay?'_ Except I so couldn't have pulled off 'dude'. That's such a West Coast thing. Seriously.

"Oh, so that ring is just a device to get rid of guys?" Rick asks with a cocky grin. Uh-oh, what is he up to? "Why didn't you just say?"

I'm about to open my mouth and tell him that it's not just a device, but he doesn't give me a chance as he cuts in, "Because then I would have turned up the charm."

Oh my _God_! Who _is _this guy? "For your information…" I start, but once again, I'm cut off. Only this time, the interruption is entirely more welcome.

"Can I help you gentleman?"

JAN! oh he is such a lifesaver. I want to jump up and give him a kiss.

Rick turns to him and laughs. "Oh, let me guess, you're her husband, right? Man, this system is a bit elaborate, but I'll go along with it. I promise I won't bother you anymore. Satisfied?"

Almost as if on cue a tall dark-haired guy walks into the bar and scans it with his cerulean blue eyes. I could tell you how many lashes that guy has around his eyes because I've counted them. I could tell you every fleck of green and amber in his eyes, every frown line, every kind of smile, every kiss. That guy has my life, and I have his.

"Nathan," I shout, waving my hand. Nathan turns to me and grins, making his way over in a pair of loose jeans and a blue t-shirt. His eyes raise at Rick and I'm expecting a confrontation - not that Nathan would normally confront any guy who speaks to me, that's just wishful thinking on my part - but that's not what I get. Instead he smiles again and he and Rick do that stupid man-hug thing.

"Rick, what are you doing here? This isn't normally where you hang out, right?" Nathan asks, pulling away. Rick shrugs.

"Wanted to check it out. So you know this chick?" Rick asks, and Nathan raises his eyebrows.

"Yeah," he answers and he looks at me with a grin. I grin back, even though I'm slightly annoyed that he knows Rick, though I am perfectly aware that's not his fault.

"Oh, so I'm sure she's used the 'marriage' brush-off on you too, right? Man, the freshman get crazier and crazier every year… no offence man. I mean, you know I think _you're _cool."

Nathan smirks and nods. "Oh yeah, the uh… the _'marriage' _brush-off huh?" Nathan nods, looking like he's about to burst out laughing any minute. "But Rick, let me tell you a little something about Hales…"

"Who?" Rick asks.

Nathan steps around him and puts his hand on my shoulder. Rick looks confused but doesn't say anything.

"See, you know my name is Nathan Scott right? Well, this is Haley James-Scott… and she's not my sister."

* * *

"Man! That was hilarious," Nathan laughs, throwing a beanie bag up in the air and catching it. "Did you see Rick's face? I wish I'd had a camera, I could bribe him with it for months."

I roll my eyes and sit down on the edge of my bed, where Nathan is lying on his back. Gwen is at the library reading some book on the Greek's or something. It's my turn for the for the dorm. It really works out because Nathan and his roommate Kinn have a similar alternate night system, and when it's Gwen's night for our dorm, it's Nathan's turn for _his _dorm. Everybody wants to help out the newlyweds.

"What I don't get," I say, staring at the closed floral curtains, "is how your team-mate didn't know you were married." I'm not annoyed or anything… oh, okay, so I'm a _little _annoyed. I mean, everybody who knows me knows that I'm married. I practically burst from wanting to tell them. If I could, I'd annoucne it on the college radio. And yet Nathan's team-mate, who he spends so much time with, doesn't know.

I feel Nathan's hand on my waist and allow myself to be pulled back so that I'm lying on my side, face-to-profile until Nathan turns to and props his head up on his elbow. "It's our personal business Hales. Besides, it's never came up. What am I supposed to do? Slip it in amongst talks about ball skills? Um… 'I can do 53 dribbles in under a minute.' 'I can throw a hoop from 12 meters.' 'I can go and screw my wife tonight'?"

Despite myself I giggle. "Screw, huh? Presumptuous aren't we Mr. Scott?"

Nathan smiles and kisses my nose, shifting his hand from my wait up to my temple, and brushing my hair back. "Would I come off better if I said hopeful, Mrs Scott?"

Hearing him say my name like that makes my skin fizz. "Say that again," I order.

"What?"

"My name. Like you just said it."

"Well… I might, if I get something in return." Nathan's cocky smirk never fails to get my heart racing. I lean forward and kiss him on the lips, pushing myself closer until there's nothing between us and our bodies are practically merged together. We pull away at the same time.

"Does that count?" I ask breathlessly.

"Mrs Scott," he says. I smile and tug at the bottom of his shirt. He lifts up a little so that it comes off and I kiss his chest. "Mrs Scott," he repeats with a laugh. "Mrs Scott, Mrs Scott, Mrs Scott."


	2. Many Rivers To Cross

**Corrupted**

**Many Rivers to Cross**

**Nathan**

Okay, let me be completely honest here. I know it's not manly or whatever to admit you're scared, but I kind of am. Christmas is drawing closer - mine and Haley's first Christmas as a married couple - and we're going home to Tree Hill for it. We have to, we want to see our friends. My dad - not so much. Especially considering the fact that we haven't told anyone we're married yet.

Yeah. Dilemma or what?

We meant to tell everyone, we really did, but… we kept putting it off and off, and now here we are. Dreading Christmas vacation.

Well, not completely. I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually looking forward to shooting a few hoops with Lucas and Jake in the driveway. Definitely not at the River Court though. Not after everything that happened there.

And seeing Brooke and Peyton again would be cool. I've missed the two of them, as odd as that sounds considering that Peyton is my ex and Brooke is my… actually, I guess it's understandable that I want to see Brooke again. We've been friends for ages, and besides that, she can take a lot of the credit for me and Haley getting together. Yeah, I can't wait to see her again.

However, I _can _wait to tell her - and everybody else - the news. Don't get me wrong, I love being married to Haley and I want to tell the world that, it's just… well, the world doesn't have reactions like some of your nearest and dearest. I know that Dad will try to make us have an annulment almost immediately. He'll definitely want Haley out of the house anyway. Mum will probably be disappointed with us for about three minutes until she comes around to the idea, and congratulates us, at least that's what I'm hoping.

Okay, so here's the predictions for our friends.

**Jake** - well, what can he say exactly? I mean, he became a father at seventeen, so he can't really tell us we're too young. I'm actually expecting the most support from him, but I guess I could be wrong.

**Peyton** - Uh… I honestly have no idea. I don't think she'll object to anything other than the fact that we're both young and in college. Maybe she'll be a little cynical too, see a divorce on the horizon. Well, that's my cynical yet lovable ex-girlfriend I guess.

**Brooke** - She can go two ways. Either fairy-tale romanticism and the whole 'they give us all hope' speech, or cold-eyed realism. You know, like giving us the whole 'you're too young for monogamy' speech.

**Lucas** - A loose cannon. He's Haley's ex, and my brother, who up until recently, I didn't get along with in the slightest. He was behind our relationship when we left for college, but as for marriage… I have no idea. It's his reaction that I'm most nervous about believe it or not.

He is my big brother after all.

* * *

"Well, it still freaks me out to be honest," Jan says, wiping the bar down with a damp cloth and giving an apologetic shrug. "But, you guys are perfect together, anyone can see that."

I rub my face in my hands and sigh.

"Look, there's a week left before winter break. You could always ring and tell them over the phone so that they're over the shock by the time you get home," Jan offers.

"You have no idea how many times I've tried that - both of us have," I say in a quiet voice. It's late on a Wednesday and the bar is clearing out because it's closing time. As a friend of Jan, or 'Jan the Sexy barman' as Gwen and Haley have taken to calling him, I get special 'stay-later' privileges.

"And?"

"We both either slam the phone down, or make conversation about college, or where Brooke is concerned, fashion. It's utterly useless. We can't find the words to tell them, and besides, it's kind of crappy telling them over the phone.

Jan nods in agreement and throws the cloth over his shoulder. It lands in the sink and he gives a cocky grin. "I got it, didn't I? Man, all you basketball superstars ain't got nothing on me."

I smile kind of half-heartedly and Jan obviously notices because he pulls down a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. He pours them both out and sets the bottle to the side. "What?" he asks in response to my look. "Al is a lame jackass, but he's generous with it. As long as I reimburse him for the bottle by the next millenium, I'm fine."

"You're going to owe that guy a fortune," I tell him, and he exhales loudly.

"Yeah, but what can you do?"

"Not drink the liquer?"

Jan raises his eyebrows. "Hey, you want me to put it back?" he asks, and there's no point in bluffing. The guy knows me too well. I lift the glass and take a large swig, wincing a little as the rough liquid burns the back of my throat, and then enjoying the warmth in my stomach.

"So, where is Haley?" Jan asks.

"Out for the night with Gwen. Probably drunkenly kissing multiple guys and doing tequila slammers off a stripper's stomach."

Jan laughs. "And you don't mind that?"

"I trust her. Wouldn't have married her if I didn't."

* * *

Haley's drunk. Actually, that's an understatement. Gwen had to get some guy to carry her to her dorm because she refused to walk, and she's been throwing up for the last thirty minutes. To be honest with you, I always worry when Haley gets like this, remembering how the whole drama with Rob Klein kicked off with Haley getting spiked. It's not something that I'd like to happen again.

"What has she had to drink?" I ask Gwen while holding Haley's hair back from her face. Believe it or not, I never would have been the type of guy to do this before. Yeah, shocker.

Gwen shrugs, looking embarrassed. "Oh, you know… a little bit of this, little bit of that… you're not amused at all, are you?"

I smile to show that I'm not Haley's dad… I'm her husband. God, I still get a little electric shock type sensation whenever I say that. Well, think that.

"Hey, you go out to have a good time. Looks like Hales just didn't know when to stop tonight," I say with a shrug, and then pat Haley on the back with my free hand. "Isn't that right Hales?"

"Go die Nathan," she says sweetly, and then throws up some more contents from her stomach. I raise an eyebrow at Gwen who has just fell off the sink.

"That's nice. Shall I just let your hair go?"

Haley's too busy to answer.

When she's finished, she flushes the chain and takes a cloth of Gwen, wiping her face with it. "Are you okay?" I ask.

She shakes her head and her face crumples up. "No. I-I-I feel like c-c-craaaaaaaaaaap!" she wails, pushing her face into my shoulder and not budging it. I stroke her hair and 'shhh' in her ear.

"Ugh, you two are so sweet together I think_ I'm _going to puke," Gwen teases, rolling her eyes. I just laugh at her.

"I'm going to have to go soon Hales. If my RA finds me sneaking into my building this late he'll tear me a new one," I say.

"No," Haley whines, clutching me tighter. "Stay here."

"I can't Hales." It would be way awkward sharing a single bed with Haley while Gwen sleeps right next to us.

Almost as if she's reading my mind, Gwen stands up and wipes her hands on her skirt. "Look, I can go and stay with Dave…"

"Dave?" Haley asks, looking up. "Who's that?"

Gwen gives a small smile and shrugs. "Just… someone."

"Dave Harper?" I ask with a frown. He's on the basketball team, and hangs with Rick. Ah, so she had a thing for one of the guys, even if Haley didn't.

Gwen nods. "Yup, so I'll leave you two newlyweds to… ew! Why did I make myself think of that? Ugh, whatever. Bye." She walks out with a wave, and pretty soon the dorm room door slams and I'm left alone with a highly intoxicated Haley. Once upon a time this would have been my dream. Now it's my reality.

Haley wipes her face again and her eyebrows knit together. She's obviously worried about something.

"Are you okay?" I ask, loosening my hold on her a little. She shakes her head and her face crumples again. I tighten it again and pull her in close. "Hey, come on, it's just a hangover. You'll feel way worse tomorrow."

Oh, that was smooth Nate. Way to make her feel better.

She pulls away from me and crosses her arms.

"I'm sorry Hales. I was joking… kinda. Well, if you're throwing it all up tonight, you should be fine by tomorrow. Do you want a glass of water?"

"Yes please," Haley says in a small voice. I get up to fill a glass from the sink up, but Haley pulls on my sleeve. "I did something really stupid Nate," Haley says now.

"What did you…?" I start, but I'm cut off by my cell phone ringing. I look at Haley, asking for permission with my eyes in case its Gwen saying she can't get into Dave's dorm. She nods but her face looks troubled.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket and look at the screen. _Brooke_. I wonder why she's phoning me so late. I flip open the phone and hold it up to my ear.

"Hello?" I say, my voice showing just a little confusion. "Brooke?"

"Nate? Hey, are you okay buddy?" Buddy? Brooke's voice is really… sympathetic. Why?

"I'm fantastic. Why are you asking?" I ask, sounding suspicious as hell.

"Fantastic? Oh come on Nate. I know that you aren't fantastic, you may be able to fool everyone else with that devil daycare attitude, but this is me. I know it's going to be tough this Christmas, but we'll all be there for you, and I don't want you to think we're choosing sides or anything, because you're both… well, you're Nathan and Haley… it's so…" Brooke's voice breaks into a sob. "I'm sorry, it's just really sad. I can't believe it Nathan!"

Okay, Brooke has officially lost it. I look over to Haley and see her crawling out of the bathroom with a funny look on her face. Almost… guilty. Hang on a second.

"Brooke, just so we're clear here, what are you talking about?"

There's a pause on the other line, and then the sound of a nose being blown. "You and Haley… she told me about the break up."


	3. The Mixed Tape

**Little White Lies**

**The Mixed Tape**

**Haley**

"Stop shouting at me Nate!" I plead, holding my head in my hands hoping to stop the onslaught. My head is hurting beyond words, and my stomach is doing this strange swishy thing where it feels like I'll throw up again any second now. I was asking why I had drunk so much earlier, now I remember. To drink myself forgetful about that that _stupid _conversation I had with Brooke earlier on today. And the worst thing, Nathan found out and _freaked _out before I had a chance to tell him why I've done it.

Okay, so just so we're clear, this is how the conversation went:

**Me:** Hello? (_I didn't know who it was at this point, you see.)_

**Brooke: **Tutor girl? (_Can you believe she _still _calls me that? Ugh.)_

**Me: **No.

**Brooke: **Ugh. Fine, Haley?

**Me: **This is she. Hello Brooke.

**Brooke:** Haley! Oh my God I am _so _excited about next week. Aren't you?

**Me: **_(Silence)_

**Brooke: **I can't wait to see everyone. I mean, I know Lucas isn't too far away from me - he's in the next state - but still, it's going to be so much fun the whole of us being together again. Just like old times!

**Me:** Brooke, there will be _one _major change… _(deciding to get the big news out of the way so at least one person won't be shocked when we get home. Well, this is Brooke, so everyone would know by the time we got home anyway)_

**Brooke:** Ooh! Like what? Good or bad?

**Me:** Good. Well, _I _think it's good. I mean… no, yes, no it's good. Yup, good, good, good.

**Brooke:** Oh-kay tuto girl, what's with the rambling and the contradictions? Oooh! I just used like, a big word. I'm a college student, I do things like that now you know. Ugh, anyway, so what's this 'major change'? ANd please stop with the rambling. It makes my head hurt.

**Me:** _(Big breath) _Me and Nathan have… went just about as far as it is possible for two people to go.

**Brooke:** _(Squeal)_ You had sex! Right? _Right!_

**Me:** Um… even further than that…

**Brooke:** What's further than that? Except for threesomes, but you've already said between _two _people, so that doesn't add up - yes, I can suddenly do mathematics too! Isn't it cool?

**Me:** Brooke, we've went to the last level in a relationship. We've…

**Brooke:** Oh my God! You guys have broken up, haven't you? This is terrible! Oh my God! It's never going to be the same again… what happened? Is it definitely over? Is there no way of a reconciliation?

**Me:** Uhm… How the hell did you come to that conclusion?

**Brooke:** the last level in a relationship… it's the break-up. Right? I mean, except for marriage, and that's just ridiculous.

**Me:** Uh…

**Brooke: **God, can you imagine Dan Scott if Nathan got married? Insane doesn't even come _into _it! He'd probably cut him off. In fact, he'd probably financially castrate him. And then there's everyone else. I mean, marriage is just silly at your age, isn't it? With college and everything.

**Me: **Uh…

**Brooke:** It's… not marriage, is it?

**Me:** No, no. Not marriage. We uh… yeah. We broke up.

* * *

"What do you mean it just happened?" Nathan asks, his face a little bit red because he's just been shouting at me. I bury my head in the pillow, hoping that the alcohol in my system will make me slip into a catatonic state where I can escape from feeling this wretched, and Nathan can't shout at me anymore. God, this must be the worst feeling in the world. Being drunk and hungover at once, with the person you love more than anyone in the world yelling at you and angry as hell.

"I… I'm sorry Nate. I just…"

"What? You just _what_? I mean, why would you say that? Do you want it to be true? Aren't you happy? Do you want out?"

"_No!_" I yell, hoping that my head doesn't rip open with the effort. "I would _never _want that."

Nathan looks at me and his eyes soften, he seems to deflate and he sits down on Gwen's bed, putting his head in his hands. "Then why… why would you say it Hales?"

"I didn't," I say quietly. Nathan opens his mouth to protest, but I cut in before he can. "I mean, not initially. I was going to tell her that we were married, and she got the wrong idea and thought we'd broke up, and then… and then she went on about how Dan would cut you off if you got married, and I panicked. I went along with her. I said we'd broke up. I was scared Nate! If your dad cut you off, what would you do? What would _we _do?" I start crying and am relieved to feel Nathan's arms around my shoulder. I lean into him.

"Okay. It's… it's okay. We'll just ring Brooke tomorrow and tell her the truth…"

"But…" I start to protest. Has he not jut heard what I said about Dan cutting him off?

"You're right about not telling anyone. We don't have to do that. We'll just tell Brooke. I mean, she can keep a secret if we want her to. We'll just go home winter break as girlfriend and boyfriend." He lifts up my left hand and kisses it, before pulling off my wedding ring. "And that means your wedding finger will be a little bare. That okay?"

"No," I squeak. "But… it's necessary I guess. We'll call Brooke tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

* * *

Tomorrow comes too soon. Well, actually, it never comes, because by the time it's tomorrow it's actually today and tomorrow is tomorrow.

Uh… yeah, I'm trying to put this awful chore off, as you can probably tell.

"Do you want me to do it?" Nathan asks. I nod, of course I want him to do it, but that's just irresponsible. I got us into this, I have to get us out.

"We could both do it. With speakerphone…" Well, maybe not by myself. Nathan smiles and holds my ringless hand. It feels so empty without my wedding band there. It became part of me, and now I feel like a little bit of me is missing. I squeeze Nathan's hand back and he dials in Brooke's number.

"Haley?" she asks, her voice ringing around the room. I briefly wonder how she knew it was me, but before I have any daydreams about psychic powers, I realise that I'm ringing her cell phone. Duh Haley.

"Uh, yeah. Look this is about yesterday, and um… what I said yesterday…"

"Oh Haley!" Brooke coos, "you sound terrible. Look, you don't need to worry about telling anyone because I've done it for you. I swear, Dan sounded positively delighted. He is such a nasty piece of work, I swear."

Me and Nathan exchange horrified glances. This is not going according to plan. I widen my eyes at him and he shakes his head.

"What do I do?" I mouth.

He shrugs his shoulders and wordlessly mouths back. "I don't know."

"Haley?"

"Uh… Here!" I say in a strangled voice.

"Look, you don't need to worry about where you're going to stay. I mean, you can't stay at Nathan's, obviously, and Peyton's dad is away so she said that you're staying with her. Hasn't she phoned you yet? Actually, she wouldn't have. I've just told her. She was devastated, as you can imagine. So was Lucas, which kind of surprised me, but I guess even he saw how perfect you two are…"

"Brooke…"

"Oh God! Sorry, I meant _were_! How good you two _were_. Ugh, I so suck at consoling over the phone. I need to make you a break-up pack for when you get home. So, what exactly happened? You didn't say yesterday and I didn't want to sound insensitive, but the curiosity is just like, eating away at me so… spill."

"Uh… Brooke, Nathan and I never broke up…"

Nathan grabs the phone and puts his hand over the mouthpiece while Brooke says, "what?" in a really confused voice.

"You can't tell her now!" he says urgently. "She's told everyone. Everyone thinks that we've broke up! We can't just say 'oh guess what guys? Yeah, it was all just a joke'."

"Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?" I ask, feeling my heart beat a thousand times a minute.

"We're going to have to play along," Nathan says resigned. "We can… uh, we can get back together once we're back home, and then say we got married in the next term and go through the 'putting-off-telling-everyone' game all over again."

"Are you serious?"

"Can you think of anything else?"

Honestly, no. And… well, I hate to say this but a part of me was hoping something like this might happen. Something that would just show up and allow us to not tell everyone about us getting married.

"Haley? Are you still there?" Brooke goes on.

"Oh, yeah," I say, snatching the phone off Nathan and holding it in my palm. "I was…" I look around for inspiration and all I can see is Nathan. "Uh… I was… _crying_! I was crying it's just so… it's so painful, you know."

Nathan raises an eyebrow at me and I shrug.

"Just let it all out Tutor Girl. But… what were you saying?"

"When?"

"You just said You and Nathan never broke up."

"Oh… uh, I meant amicably. We didn't break up as friends. We… well, it was horrible," I say, just spewing out whatever comes into my head. Nathan's eyebrows practically disappear into his hair line.

"Oh baby! What happened?" Brooke sounds like she's got a tub of popcorn in her lap and she's settling in for some drama. I can only think to give it to her.

"He… well, he cheated on me," I say in a rush, closing my eyes and wondering why the hell I just said that.

"What?" Nathan cries, and my eyes fly open as he clamps his hand over his mouth.

"Who was that?" Brooke asks now. I glare at Nathan and try to think on my feet.

"Uh, that was Rick. He um… stayed the night last night."

'_Rick?_' Nathan mouths, and I'm thinking the same thing.

"Woo boy," Brooke says, sounding gob smacked.

"And he's in the bathroom taking a shower. He must have realised there is no 2-in-1 shampoo or something. He's a complete moron."

"And you brought him home?" Brooke asks. "Did you do anything? Oh, why am I asking that? He's taking a shower of course you did _something_."

"I was drunk last night."

"Evidently. I can't believe Nate would do that, he was crazy about you…"

I smile at Nathan when she says this but he just scowls back. Ah, he's mad.

"Who with? Did you know her?"

"Um… Gwen, my dorm mate," I say, staring up at the ceiling. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Nathan almost fall off the bed. I've watched way too many daytime television. My 'life' sounds like something off Oprah Winfrey or Movie of the Week.

"No way!" Brooke yells, absorbing my whacky story like a sponge. "are you still living with her?"

"Who?" I ask, pre-occupied and looking at Nathan who is staring at me with his mouth open.

"Your dorm mate! Slutty Gwen!"

"Gwen's not a slut," I say defensively, before I realise that she is supposed to be a slut.

"What?" Brooke asks. "She slept with your boyfriend."

"Oh, uh… she didn't know he was my boyfriend. I never said and Nathan didn't tell her."

Nathan drops his head back on the pillow and shakes it vigorously, like he's trying to get rid of everything he's just heard.

"But he knew she was your room mate?"

"Yes?"

"That doesn't sound like Nathan at _all_! What the hell has got into him?"

I shrug and bite my lip, pleading with my eyes at Nathan to forgive me. "I guess he's just back to his old self."

Nathan glares at me.


	4. The View From the Afternoon

**Little White Lies**

**The View From the Afternoon**

**Lucas**

"He _what?_"

I stare at the phone, almost expecting it to yell 'April Fools!' at me. No way can what I'm hearing be true. It makes absolutely no sense. I mean, it might of made sense last year, but not now. Not with the 'new-improved' Nathan.

"I know. It's crazy, right? I mean, if Haley didn't sound so terrible over the phone I would have thought she was joking. And the worst part is, Nathan new this girl was Haley's room mate. I mean, why would he _do _that?" Brooke is saying, rambling on in that adorable way she does when she's excited or full of brand new gossip.

"I… I don't get it," I say like a jock with a mathematical equation. "They were… _perfect_."

"I _know_! I think I should talk to Nathan. I mean, I know what he did was totally wrong, but we have only got one side of the story. I mean, I don't see how Nathan could have done it, but he could tell us."

"You think Haley might be lying?" I ask, my voice edged with annoyance. I mean, from what she's just said, it sounds like she thinks Haley is exaggerating.

"No!" Brooke shouts. "No… well, no, no. Absolutely not. Why, do you?"

"Not at all. Haley isn't really the lying type. Look, why don't you let me ring Nathan? We can talk like, brother to brother."

There's silence on the other side of the phone and Brooke takes a deep breath. "Can I trust you not to lose it?"

"No. But I promise I'll only go mad if Nathan is a complete jerk, okay?"

"Uhm… okay. I guess. But ring me back and tell me _everything!_ Seriously Mr. Scott. Don't miss out a word."

"Brooke, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm coming up to New York for the day, remember?"

"Uh, but that's tomorrow," she says, like I'm simple. I don't think I will ever understand women.

* * *

"Lucas man," my friend Thomas yells, making me turn around to see him running towards me, his glasses hanging precariously on one ear.

"Whats up?" I ask. Thomas stops beside me and takes deep breaths. I laugh, he's not the most athletic person in the world. He was amazed when I told him I play basketball, said he couldn't be bothered.

"Uh… someone's here to see you," Thomas spits out. "She came to our dorm and asked for you. I said I'd find you."

"Why didn't she come and find me herself?" I ask, already sure I know the answer and unable to keep the smile off my face.

"Well, she's kind of… persuasive," Thomas says with a shrug, his dark cheeks flaming up.

"I bet she is," I laugh. "Is she still there?"

Thomas nods, and I head towards my dorm. I tell you, college life agrees with me quite a lot. I feel like I was made to go to Princeton, and the fact that it's only one state over from NYU is a bonus too. I see Brooke quite a lot, only she obviously doesn't think it's enough, because she's sat in my dorm room now with a short skirt and a suggestive smile.

"Hey you," she greets, jumping up as soon as I come in and wrapping her arms around me. I so expected college to tear us apart a little, but it's done the exact opposite. Not being with each other every day means that the times we are together are fantastic. We haven't had a single argument yet.

I put my hands on Brooke's waist and kiss her on the mouth. When she pulls away, she looks around my dorm room and raises an eyebrow. "This is suspiciously tidy. Should I be worried?"

I laugh and look around. "Thomas is freakishly tidy. If I leave a towel on the floor he spazzes."

"Thomas? Oh, is that the guy that ran about after me like a manservant?" Brooke asks, kissing me again.

"That would be him. What are you doing here? You've never came to Princeton. You said you thought New Jersey was 'icky'."

Brooke laughs and throws herself down on my bed. "Well, I was wrong. It's great here. Everything looks so… _smart_."

"Uh-huh? You know, I could swear that I was talking to you on the phone about five minutes ago."

"Oh, yeah, I was driving."

"That's very irresponsible Brooke," I say in a mock stern voice, kissing her shoulder. Brooke laughs and pulls my head up, kissing me on the lips.

"What are you going to do about it, Lucas?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later I button my shirt back up and can't wipe the smile off my face.

"You know, I should be angry at you," Brooke says from where she's laying on my bed under my bed covers.

"Oh yeah? Why's that? Oh, and I'd just like to say that my bed looks _great _with you in it."

Brooke laughs again and poses as if she's in front of a camera. "Okay, seriously Lucas. You haven't rung Nathan yet, have you?"

No. I was trying to put it off. I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep my temper with my little brother, but I didn't want Brooke ringing either because Nathan would probably manipulate her onto his side, and I think that Haley really needs our support right now. After all, she was the one who was cheated on. "I'll ring him tomorrow," I say vaguely, hoping she won't ask again.

No luck. She grabs my cell phone out of my jeans pocket (which I was looking for) and holds it out. "Now. While I'm here. I want to hear what he has to say for himself."

I consider saying no and potentially starting an argument, but I refuse to argue over Nathan. I take the phone and dial my brothers number in. After two rings…

"You know, I'd rather not," I say, closing the phone. Brooke narrows her eyes and stares at me.

"Why?" she asks.

I shrug. Why indeed? "Well, because if we ring him, he'll be able to twist everything. It's probably best if we talk to him face to face, that way he can't charm his way out of it so easily, 'cause Haley will be there… at least, I think she will. If she ends up staying in because of Nathan…"

"Lucas, he's your brother."

"And?"

"_And_, he's your brother! You should stop thinking so bad of him. Yes, what he did was really bad, but we haven't heard his reasons. You can't condemn him… what's that phrase? Oh yeah, innocent until proven guilty."

"Brooke, this is Nathan. He was never exactly all sweetness and light, was he?"

"Well, no…" Brooke looks uncomfortable.

"Look, can we just wait until Christmas vacation? And then we can confront him… I mean, we can _ask _him what happened. Okay?"

Brooke bites her lip. "Okay?"

"Okay," I nod firmly.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the long update. I've been without my internet for a while. The reviews have been, as always, absolutely brilliant. I love you guys.**

**In this chapter I had to make Lucas act a little out of character (though maybe in his old character) to further the story, so sorry about that. **

**Unfortunately, the next update will be a while too, maybe next week because I'm going to be without the internet or my laptop until Wednesday, and I'm editing the next chapter because I didn't like the way it was heading. **

**Still, I hope you liked the Brucas in this chapter. Love ya's!**

Conaleigh x


	5. Map of the Problematique

**Little White Lies**

**Map of the Problematique**

**Haley**

"Is that everything?"

Nathan nods at my question and slams down the car boot. He still isn't talking to me. Well, outside of grunts and 'yeah's. I take a deep breath and throw myself into the passenger seat. Nathan's driving me to Charlotte, and then I have to get the bus so that we don't arrive together. I mean, how weird would that look, after everything Nathan's done to me. Well, everything Nathan has _supposedly _done to me. I cringe at the thought.

I mean, Nathan has every right to be mad. We're going to get home and I'm going to be treated like some kind of victim and Nathan is going to get nothing but abuse. I can tell it's really upsetting him that none of our friends have phoned him to see how he is. They've all just assumed that Nathan can actually do something like that, and it makes me feel about a billion times worse. All I've been wishing for the past week is for someone - _anyone_ - to ring him up and ask for his side of the story.

Nathan gets into the drivers seat and takes a deep breath. I put my hand on his and thank God when he doesn't shake it off. He doesn't look at me either, and I say something that I've said about a million times over the past week. "I'm really sorry," I tell him. "I got carried away."

Nathan gives a half smile and lifts his hand up to start the car. "Understatement of the century," He says. "That's like saying Hitler was a _little _eccentric."

Hey! He's talking to me. That's an improvement. I take my hand back and look at him, not wanting to look away in case he breaks down and actually looks at me. Something he's been avoiding all week. He doesn't give in, just stares ahead and starts the car.

"What can I do?" I ask out of sheer exasperation. "I'll do _anything_ if it means you're okay with me again." Nathan shrugs.

"Nothing. It's fine. We're supposed to be broken up anyway so it's better this way. Very little acting required."

I sigh and stare straight ahead. This feeling is awful. I just want Nathan to smile at me. Just once. I look at my cell phone and decide to do something drastic.

"What are you doing?" Nathan asks. I put my finger to my lips as Lucas answers the phone. He rang me the other day asking if everything was alright, and if I wanted him to beat Nathan up for me. I thanked him for the offer but told him absolutely not.

"Lucas," I start, but I don't get far because Nathan reaches out and grabs the cell phone, pressing the 'end call' button.

"What are you doing?" he asks, finally looking my way. "Ringing to tell him that I raped your pony too?"

I stare at Nathan and feel my eyes water. "No! I… I was ringing to tell him that this whole thing was a load of crap! I'm sick of it being like this between us Nathan, and if this is how it's going to be all Winter then forget it! I'm not going to let us be this way."

Nathan takes a deep breath and stares back at the road. "Don't." That's all he says. Just 'don't', like I'm a dog or something. I sit back and stare out of the window, feeling miserable.

* * *

Well, that didn't work at all. Nathan is still being really icy with me. With a huge sigh I turn to Nathan. We've been driving for about an hour now and in that whole time, Nathan has not said one iota to me.

"You know," I say, deciding to throw the completely insane idea that has been rolling around in my head out there. "Maybe I could ring Brooke and tell her that the only reason you cheated on me was to get back at me for cheating on you first? With a team mate?"

Nathan raises and eyebrow but still doesn't look away from the road. Oh damn him and his responsible driving!

"Haley, I thing your love for amateur dramatics got us into this mess in the first place. How about you don't make it any worse?" He says like an automaton.

Great. I look out of the window and watch the green roll past in blurry chunks. Oh, how the hell did we get into this mess?

"I love you."

I turn to Nathan and stare at him open-mouthed. He's not looking at me and I'm almost tempted to believe that I was hearing things. Except… I wasn't. Was I? Nathan proves I wasn't when he slips his hand over mine. I sigh in relief and grip his hand, almost screaming with joy when he squeezes back.

"I can't believe you would even think of doing that," he says, shaking his head again but with a smile on his face. "You know we'd both be treated like whores, right?"

I laugh. "Well, at least we'd be treated like whores _together_. Besides, I hate the thought of everyone thinking badly about you when you've been absolutely perfect. An absolutely perfect _husband_."

Nathan laughs again and tightens his grip on my hand. "As long as you know it, then I'm happy." I'm so relieved that he's stopped being icy to me that I fling my arms around his shoulders and bury my face in his shirt, smelling him. God, I've missed that smell. Nathan kisses the top of my head but doesn't take his hands from the steering wheel.

"I've missed you," I say softly, and start crying when he says it back.

* * *

Right. Charlotte. I look up at the bus depot and try to figure out which bus I should be getting into Tree Hill. God, why are timetables always so _complicated?_ And I'm good at math. Ugh.

I think I've figured it out, and go to stand at the relevant place. As soon as I get there I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Haley James?"

I turn and see Sam Cooper. He used to go to Tree Hill High, and was a fellow tutor. "Sam?" I ask, and feel myself pulled into a huge hug. "Uh… hi," I say when he lets me go. I mean, I like the guy and everything, but we're not close enough for hugs. Especially since I haven't seen him since Graduation.

"Wow. You look great," Sam says, obviously having read somewhere that this is what you say to friends you haven't seen in a while.

"Thanks," I say, and add "you too," as an afterthought. I look at the clock impatiently.

"You're going to Tree Hill? Why are you getting the bus?" Sam asks now. "I thought you went to college with Nathan Scott."

"Oh, I…" I what? I lied to all of my friends and so I'm pretending that we broke up? "We broke up," I say, trying it out for size. Besides, if I told him me and Nathan were dating then he'd probably tell everyone else, and then there would be major confusion. Yeah, probably not a good idea.

"What?" Sam says now, looking genuinely grieved. "No way! You two were so perfect together."

"That's what everybody says," I say, unable to keep the smile off my face. Sam doesn't seem to notice.

"Man, that sucks. Look, so you want to sit with me on the bus, since we're going to the same place and all?"

I look at the clock and nod. "Sure, that would be great." It wouldn't of course, but the other people here are even less appealing. If I had to sit next to anyone, it would be Sam.

* * *

Ah, home sweet home. Tree Hill is exactly as I left it. I step out onto the wet pavement and immediately see Brooke waving like an idiot. She runs over and pulls me into a tight hug.

"Tutor Girl! I've missed you! Nathan's here already and Lucas Is grilling him. I can't believe what he did to you! But we can talk later. Actually, we can talk now because we're going to Karen's Café. We'll leave your bags and stuff in my car."

My head reels at Brooke's speedy speech. "Wait… Lucas is grilling Nathan? Oh I hope he's not being too hard on him…"

Brooke pulls a face. "Uh… Why? Nathan was a jerk to you, shouldn't you be wanting Lucas to pound him into the ground? I'm still finding this really hard to believe actually."

I'm about to tell Brooke that there's two sides to every story, and that Nathan would so win Lucas in a fist fight, but Sam appears with my luggage and I remember that Nathan was supposed to have cheated on me, and acting like I'm fighting his corner isn't a great idea.

"I got your bags," Sam says, holding up my red canvas holdall and black rucksack.

"Thanks," I say through gritted teeth, annoyed that I'm going to be spending this whole holiday lying to my friends and desperate to call Nathan and ask if we should reconsider.

"Hi," Brooke greets. "Are you Haley's friend from Duke?" The way she says friend makes me cringe.

"It's Sam Cooper from school," I say. "We met at the bus station in Charlotte when we had to swap over."

"Oh," Brooke says, having the decency to look a little embarrassed. "Oh yeah!" She clearly doesn't remember him.

"Can we go to the car?" I ask, still annoyed. Brooke nods and picks up my rucksack. "Thanks for the company," I tell Sam as I follow after her with my holdall.

"No problem," Sam says back. "We should meet up sometime for a drink or something."

"Uh," I start, getting ready to say I'd love to, but I can't.

"Of course she will," Brooke cuts in instead. She turns to me and says, "He's just what you need to forget about Nathan."

"But I don't want to forget about Nathan," I protest, forgetting that we're supposed to be broken up. Damn, I'm going to have to keep myself in check otherwise I'll be bragging about the size of my wedding ring in no time.

"Of course you do," Brooke says with an air of authority about her as she passes my number to Sam. "He cheated on you with your roommate. Of course you need to forget about him."

Oh boy. This is going to be a long week.


	6. The Hardest Person To Know Is Yourself

**Little White Lies**

**The Hardest Person To Know Is Yourself**

**Peyton**

Well, this is awkward. Nathan is sat on the chair in the Scott Home staring at us, and we're staring anywhere but back at him. I can't wait to see Haley and everything, but I'm so glad that she's not here.

"You're jerks, you know that right?" Nathan says, and my mouth drops onto the ground. Lucas narrows his eyes and grits his teeth, and even Jake looks confused.

"Oh yeah," I say. "_We're _the jerks."

Nathan gives a sarcastic laugh and shakes his head, staring right at me. I look away. "You know, not a single one of you rang for my side of the story? I tell you, what a bunch of _great _friends I have. Really, you're the _best_."

Lucas gets to his feet and glares at Nathan. "What, you expected us to believe that Haley was lying? Is that it? I mean, it's not as if you've never cheated on anyone before Nathan. I'm sure Peyton can testify to that."

Nathan opens his mouth to say something, but he closes it quick and looks at me again. The truth is, Nathan did cheat on me a lot when we were dating. I just kind of got used to it, it was part of who he was, he was never going to change. Only, he _did _change, at least, we thought he had. Hearing that he had cheated on Haley was a blow to us all. I wouldn't say we lost faith in love exactly, but that faith was severely dented. If I was acting on my urges, I would have swung for Nathan right now, but he looks so forlorn and pathetic that I can't. I want to but I can't.

"I'm sorry for putting you through all of my crap," he says in a soft voice, still seeking out my eyes. I continue to look away.

"That's great Nathan. Is that how you apologised to Haley too? If you even apologised to Haley?" I ask, risking a glance at Nathan. He's looks down at his hands.

"I'm sorry that…" Nathan starts, but he's interrupted as Dan Scott walks into the room.

"Nathan," he greets with his cocky little smirk, completely ignoring the rest of us. "I'm glad that you're back son. Hopefully we'll be able to have a few training sessions over the next couple of weeks, make sure that you don't get rusty for Duke."

Nathan takes a deep breath and rubs his nose. "Sounds great Dad. I don't think I'll be doing much else over these holidays." With that he gets to his feet and storms up the stairs.

* * *

"Haley James!" I shriek, throwing my arms around my best friend. She's just knocked on my door with Brooke and some guy is carrying her luggage. Oh, it's Sam Cooper, he used to go to our school.

"It's Haley S…" Haley says, and then with widened eyes she clamps her mouth shut.

"What?" I ask, wondering why she's just told me that it's her, when I can clearly see that it is her.

"What?" She repeats, raising her eyebrows like she finds me amusing.

"What did you just say?"

"What did _you _just say?"

"I… what?" I ask, getting really confused now.

"Oh ignore her P. Sawyer, Brooke says, pushing past me. "She's been acting weird ever since I picked her up. I mean, she was actually sticking up for _Nathan _earlier. Can you believe it?"

Haley gives a weak little smile and then follows Brooke as Sam struggles up the steps to my porch with bags.

"Hey Sam," I greet, hoping that at least _he _will act normal. "You want a hand?"

"Oh, no thanks. I've got to be going now anyway. Uh, would you thank Brooke for inviting me for coffee? And tell Haley I'll pick her up tomorrow at seven? I mean, I already told her, but…"

"I'll pass it on Sam," I say, taking the bags off him and dropping them inside the door. He gives a grateful smile and then heads off.

"You've got a date with Sam?" I ask Haley as soon as I walk into the kitchen, where Brooke is clanging open cupboards in her quest to make a snack.

Haley groans and pulls herself up onto a breakfast bar stool. "Brooke organised it. I didn't get much of a say in the matter."

Brooke pulls bread out of the larder and empties a few slices onto three plates. "Hello? She needs to move on. Nathan obviously has. Speaking of, you seen him yet?"

I look uneasily at Haley who's eyes have glazed over. "Yeah. Me and Jake were over at his and Luke's earlier."

"How is he?" Haley asks suddenly, seeming to reanimate and come to life. Me and Brooke look at her with raised eyebrows.

"See what I mean," Brooke asks, opening the fridge door. "Weird."

Haley gives an awkward shrug. "Well, you can't just um… turn your feelings on and off like a tap. I'm in… I _was _in love with Nathan. I can't help but get a little concerned about him every now and then."

Yeah, there's something weird going on here. I mean, yeah what Haley said is true and all, but I thought that I loved Nathan, and when we split I was far from caring and considerate. In fact, if a pick axe had been to hand I would have happily lunged at him with it. Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I guess.

"Pey, you got any Pickle for the cheese?" Brooke asks, still head-first in the fridge.

"No. But there's some lettuce and tomatoes in the vegetable crisper. Go for those."

I can't believe we're actually still discussing food when my best friend's life has crashed around her ears. I turn to Haley and put on my best sympathetic face. "So, Nathan really screwed you over, huh?"

"P. Sawyer!" Brooke exclaims, heading away from the refrigerator with a handful of sandwich ingredients I don't even want to guess. "That's so insensitive!"

Haley looks like she's about to burst out laughing, so I guess she didn't think so. Besides, I was just stating the facts. What's so insensitive about that? Right, quiz time. I'm not usually one for gossip, but Nathan and Haley were the _it_ couple of Tree Hill High. Even more so that Brooke and Lucas, and they were pretty hot. _Are_ pretty hot. Not everyone's relationship has fell apart yet. Look at me and Jake. We're as happy as ever.

Thankfuly, I don't have to start the dissecting session because Brooke has approached the bench with a plate full of door step sandwiches.

"Tuck in. So Haley, now begins the obligatory autopsy of the relationship. The tissues are… uh… _here_," Brooke reaches over for a box of tissues from beside me. "If at any point it gets too hard… then tough. We need to so this sweetie. We need to get your feelings out there."

Haley looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

Thankfully she's saved by the bell. My cell phone, to be more exact.

"Uh, I'll just go get this," I say, already halfway out of the kitchen.

"We should wait for Peyton before we start," I hear Haley saying in an understandably relieved tone. Going through memories is harsh.

"Hello," I say when I finally answer the phone.

"Hey babe," comes the voice of Jake Jagielski. My _lovah_. I've always secretly wanted to say that. It sounds so cool. I want to take a _lovah_. But yeah, anyway. Moving on.

"Jake! What are you doing?"

"Well, I don't know if you're going to like this…"

"What?"

"Uh… I'm shooting hoops with Nathan."

"What?"

"Oh come on Peyton. The guy looked distraught earlier on, and he's right. None of us asked him his side of the story."

"So, what are you going to do? Let him cry on your shoulder? Jeez, Haley would flip if she knew that your giving Nathan preferential treatment." Actually, I'm not entirely sure that this is true. Seems to me that Haley might just _thank _Jake for being nice to Nathan, weird girl that she is.

"I'm not giving him preferential treatment! I'm just… I'm being a friend Pey. They guy made a mistake. We all make mistakes."

"Not huge gaping great ones like cheating on Haley!"

"Well, we don't all get the chance to, being that we don't date Haley to begin with…"

"Oh don't get funny with me Jake."

"I'm sorry. Look, will you just… will you not be mad at me? I'll take you out for dinner tonight, okay?"

"It had better be an expensive dinner."

"You know it baby."

* * *


	7. The Good Times Are Killing Me

**Little White Lies**

**The Good Times Are Killing Me**

**Nathan**

I'm still not sure exactly why Jake is doing this. If I heard that he had cheated on Peyton… well, I wouldn't blank him because then I'd be a hypocrite. Still, it's great that not all of my friends are hating my guts for something I didn't even do. You know, before my dad walked into the lounge today, I was about two seconds away from telling everyone that this whole thing was a set-up, but then my dad came in and I remembered why we're doing this thing in the first place. My dad. Yes, he's a jerk, but if he cut us off, we probably wouldn't eat. Yeah, we could get jobs, but Haley would have to give back her ring, and there'd be this cloud where all the free time we spend with each other is spent working our butts off.

Besides, Dan Scott may be a tyrant, but he's still my dad. Call me crazy, but there's still a part of me that just wants to make him proud all of the time. Of course, it's a very minimal part, and the rest of me would be happy to punch the guy or whatever, but you know that old saying? ' The minority rules'? Well, that applies here.

"Hey, mind on the game Scott," Jake says with a grin as a ball whizzes past my ear.

"Sorry, my head's all mixed up." I pray that my dad didn't see that. If he did, I have a feeling every second of this holiday excluding Christmas dinner (maybe) would be spent training.

"You want to stop a while? Get a drink?" Jake asks, and I find myself nodding. The two of us walk into the kitchen and I get two bottles of soda from the refrigerator, thanking God that Lucas is out and so not likely to be throwing any snide comments my way any time soon.

I lean off the kitchen work top and take a swig of the fizzy liquid, wiping my mouth afterwards.

"Uh… do you um… do you want to… you know. Uh, do you want to… _talkaboutit?_" Jake looks supremely uncomfortable and I decide not to unburden my imaginary problems on him.

"Not really," I say, trying not to smile and imagine that me and Haley really have broke up. Actually, let's not think about that.

"Oh… well if you're sure. Haley will probably be dissecting everything with Brooke and Peyton," Jake says, still looking uncomfortable. Going over old relationships is a girl thing. I can tell that Jake must feel really sorry for me to even suggest it.

"Yeah. Really, I was a jerk, the end. If I could take it back, I would, but I can't so… what's the point in dwelling on it?"

Jake stares at me for a while. "You still love her then?"

I have to think about it. If I was to answer this question truthfully I'd be saying '_well, duh, she's my wife_.' As it is though, I have to act out this whole alternate reality where Haley and I never married, I slept with her dorm mate, and we split up.

"Yeah. I do," I say finally. I'm not a great actor, and if I take this too far away from truth (Like Haley, for example) it could get messy. Jake nods and takes another swig. The two of us are at a loss for what to say.

"You think the two of you might ever get back together?"

_Yes? No?_ What do I say here. I open my mouth and feel like a goldfish as I search for something to say that fits in with my current (imaginary) jerkishness, but it won't come.

At that moment, the kitchen door opens and Lucas walks in. he looks from Jake, to me, and then back to Jake again.

"I'm sorry, I thought this place was empty," Lucas says, his voice not showing even a hint of emotion.

I don't know what it is, but my heart feels cold, and tight. "Lucas!" I call out, obviously possessed by some kind of 'stupid' demon. "Will you just talk to me?"

Lucas narrows his eyes. "What is there to say? You cheated on Haley, and you're the same arrogant asshole you've always been."

I feel like I've been winded. "Great show of brotherhood there Lucas," I say sarcastically.

"Huh, I'm ashamed to call you my brother Nathan."

And the winding continues. Jeez, since when did I care so much about Lucas? When did I care so much about what Lucas thought about me?

"I made a mistake!" I yell, clutching at straws. It seems like something someone who has slept with their girlfriends dorm mate would say. At least, according to those day time soaps I've watched. Secretly.

"No crap Nate," Lucas says, but at least he's not heading for the door.

"I was… I was drunk. And me and Haley had this argument and we were about _this _close to breaking up… Look, I'm not going to make excuses" - mainly because they're seriously lame. This thinking on your toes thing is no joke - "I was a jerk… an 'arrogant asshole', as you so eloquently put it, but I realise what a mistake I made. I punished myself far more than any of you guys could punish me, so would you give me a break? You're my brother Lucas and believe it or not, I care what you think."

Oh, I think that deserved an Oscar. Ha, and I thought I wasn't a great actor.

Lucas gives a sigh. "You're right, you're a jerk."

Ah, maybe not an Oscar then…

"But you _are _my brother. Look, I shouldn't have been so quick to judge you, not after everything we've been through, but I'm finding it really hard to give you the benefit of the doubt Nathan. Not after everything you've done before."

"Can you at least try?" I ask, deciding that if he says no I'm pulling the curtain on this whole thing.

"Yeah, I guess I can. Welcome back little brother."

* * *

"Nathan? I love you I love you _I love you!_"

I laugh at Haley's highly relieved tone and want to hug her. We've got to arrange some way to meet.

"Where are you?" I ask, throwing myself back on my bed.

"Peyton's room. Brooke and Peyton want to have a relationship autopsy. You just saved me."

"Sounds grim."

"It is! I have no idea what to say! Oh Nathan, why are we doing this. I love you, and having to pretend to hate your guts is just too hard."

"Well, what can I say Hales? You made your bed…"

"Shut up."

"Well, if you'd said we split because of some tiny little disagreement or something we could have made up by now, but you had to go and give Brooke the storyline for a daytime soap opera."

It's silent on Haley's side for a while, and then a loud sigh comes down the phone. "Yes, I suck, and you're getting the blame for it. I am so, so sorry Nathan."

"Don't be. I think I'm bringing Lucas around, and unlike everyone else, Jake was actually nice to me from the start. Well, more or less. Jeez, I've had to do so much acting I feel exhausted.

"Acting?"

"Yeah, why I cheated on you."

"Oh! Could you give me some pointers then? Because right before you rang Brooke asked me why I thought you'd done it, and I couldn't think of a single thing."

"Uh, I was drunk, and we'd had an argument and were probably about to split up anyway."

"What were we arguing about? Why were we about to split up?"

"I don't know."

"Details Nathan! I need details!"

God, what is it with girls and their attention to detail. Isn't that I was drunk and we had an argument enough? "Uh… We were arguing about… how you dislike my dorm mate?"

"What, and we were going to split up over that?"

"I don't know. Can we make you look bad this time though, because I'm kind of most hated as it is."

Haley laughs and I feel a dozy smile creep up my face. "Sure thing Nathan. I'll think something up. I'm going to have to go, the girls are getting impatient. I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

**AN; I love you guys, seriously 333**

**Anyway, I know you're probably getting impatient for a little Naley (besides the phonecalls) but it's coming soon, I swear. I've already wrote the chapter.**

**Oh, and by the way, some of you are psychic,saying about the phonecall and the missing each other (though I guess that's pretty obvious) Anyway, I'll try and update again tomorrow. I'm really enjoying writing this XD**


	8. The Ups and Downs Are Always the Best Pa

**Little White Lies**

**The Ups and Downs Are Always the Best Parts**

**Haley**

I make my way back downstairs where Brooke and Peyton are still sat at the breakfast bar, looking impatient. I sigh and sit down.

"Wow, you're back, finally. Who was on the phone?" Brooke asks looking way too excited for a relationship autopsy. I guess it's just all the drama involved, but I know she doesn't mean to be so insensitive. Not that I care, it's not like me and Nathan actually split up or anything.

"Uh… a friend from college. Asking how I'm settling in at home… uh, she wanted to escape from her family for a minute, she's got a really, _really _big family." Wait, where is all of this coming from?

Crap, I've just described myself. Cover, cover quick Haley. "We, uh… we have a lot in common. That's why we're such good friends."

Brooke nods but I can tell she wants to move onto the juicy stuff.

"Yuh huh, so, why do you think he did it?"

"Uh, he was drunk," I say quickly, mirroring what Nathan said to me. Brooke doesn't look too impressed.

"Wait a second , you think he cheated on you with your roommate because he was _drunk_? Haley, I have spent most of my time so far at college drunk, but I haven't slept with any one yet. Surely that can't be it. Nathan wouldn't do that… not that I'm siding with him or anything, just…" She trails off and I have to stop myself from flinging my arms around her for (semi-) defending Nathan.

I look at Peyton but she doesn't say anything, just raises her eyebrow and takes a big bite out of her sandwich.

"Well," I say, trying to add a little sorrow and guilt to my voice. I have to find a way to salvage Nathan somehow. "We, uh… we had an argument too."

"An argument?" Brooke looks incredulous. Damn, I should have _forced _Nathan to come up with a reason for the argument. My mind has abandoned me. So has my sanity, who knew?

"What was it about?" Peyton asks, perking up a little bit.

I gulp and try to rearrange my face to guilt again. "I… well, it was bad. Very, very bad. We were actually going to split up because of it, it was so bad… Well, it wasn't just that argument, we'd been having a string of them, but this one… this one was like the straw that broke the camels back."

"A camel? What has a camel got to do with this?" Brooke asks, looking confused.

"It's an analogy Brooke," Peyton says with another bite of her sandwich. "So, what was it about?"

Damn. I've built it up a lot and I don't know what the hell I'm suppose to say. "Well, um… the arguments started off small. I hated his roommate, we weren't spending enough time together, you know, stuff like that."

"Yeah, but what was _this _argument about. You know, the camelly straw thing," Brooke asks. Damn, what is it with girls and details?

I bite my lip. "Well…" Crap. "You see…" what do I do? "The thing is…" Quit stalling!

"What? What?" Brooke snaps.

"Yeah, come on Hales," Peyton laughs.

I look down at my hands and get a brain wave. I throw my head down on the table and pretend to cry, great heaving sobs. "I…I…It's so p - painful! And it was all my fault!" _Sniff_. "I met this guy, and I was spending a lot of time with him because he's in a lot of my classes…" Whoa! Where is all of this coming from? I don't care, it's good. I give another sob and continue. "I… I kind of l-liked him and" _Sniff _"And he l-liked me _too_ and… but I still loved Nathan. I was so - so - so confused!" _Sob_.

There's silence, except for my wails. "Did Nathan know about him?" Brooke asks. I keep my face on the table but nod anyway. I can't look up because I've got no tears in my eyes. I try to think of something sad, and remember Nathan last year, when he was in the coma. It feels like a weight has clamped down on my chest and I feel my nose throb. A sob escapes my throat, a real one this time, and I try to get rid of the image, of the memory. Of Nathan bruised and broken, and me thinking I would never speak to him again.

I can't believe we're doing this. After everything we've been through and we're pretending that we've broken up! Pretending that we don't love each other anymore, and that Nathan could actually cheat on me, that I could have feelings for anybody else. What are we thinking? Life's too short!

I look up at Brooke and Peyton, who are kind of gaping. I wipe the tears from my eyes and jump off my chair. "I've got to get out of here. I've got to see Nathan.

* * *

Well, it's official, Peyton and Brooke think I'm insane. I ran out of the house saying I needed to see Nathan, when according to them we're supposed to hate each others guts. Well, that was the plan. The way it's going they'll think we're married or something.

Oh wait, we _are_.

I run to Nathan's house hoping to God that Dan isn't in. As if to answer my prayer, Dan's car isn't in the driveway, but Lucas's is, and Lucas is right next to it, opening the door to climb in. He spots me straight away.

"Haley!" He yells, running over to me and pulling me into a tight hug. "Wow, it's good to see you. I've missed you."

I hug Lucas back, smelling his familiar smell and smiling. God, I've missed him too. Way more than a girl _should _miss her ex-boyfriend, but Lucas is more than that. He's one of my best friends. In fact, for the longest time, he was my _only _best friend, before Peyton kicked in the cheerleading squad, and before Brooke started being nice to me, and before Jake started seeing Peyton, and before I fell in love with Nathan…

"I've missed you too. How have you been?" I ask, once we pull apart.

"I've been good. Princeton is great, I love it there, and Brooke's only in the next state so that's cool."

"Yeah, yeah I was going to ask about the two of you. I spoke to Brooke about it, but it's always best to get both sides of the story."

Lucas looks a little guilty and thrusts his hands in his pocket. "Yeah, it really is. Uh… how about you? You coping okay?"

Coping? What? Oh yeah, with Nathan and our 'situation'. God, the sooner we put an end to this the better. I'm tempted to tell Lucas that it was all a lie, but I can't do that without Nathan. I need to speak to him so bad.

"I'm fine, is… is Nathan in?"

Lucas shakes his head. "No, don't worry about that," he says with a small laugh. "Dan dragged him out for a run in the park, slipping the leash over his neck now that he's back home. So, you can come in. I mean, if you want to. It must be hard with all the memories, but I'm pretty sure Nathan won't be back for a while so you don't have to worry about running into him."

I take a deep breath. He's not here. It feels so weird, back at Duke we seemed to spend every second of the day together, now we're like ships in the night, passing right on by each other. Missing each other.

"Uh, no it's fine. I should get back anyway, I think Peyton and Brooke will be worried about me."

"Why?"

"Oh, I was a _little _bit hysterical when I left," I laugh. "Bye Lucas. I'll see you later, right?"

Lucas scratches his ear. "Uh… I kind of promised Nathan that we'd go for a drink."

"That's great!" I say with a huge grin which seems to leave Lucas at a loss for words. "I mean, you're brothers. You should stick together."

"You don't mind?"

"Well, it's not like you can only be friends with one of us," I say with a shrug.

"Wow, you're handling this so well."

I shrug. I hate lying to Lucas, it just feels wrong. "I have my bad patches too. Just ask Brooke and Peyton."

* * *

Wow, I feel so James Bond right now, hiding behind a tree and spying on Nathan and Dan. God, I wish Dan would just _go away_, but the man is like a shadow. He never leaves you alone. Even when you think he's not there he appears somewhere. Poor Nathan, he looks like he wants to punch something, or someone. I'm amazed at his self-control actually. If it was a game and someone from the rival team was annoying him so much, he's be exactly the same. Annoyed but controlled.

I think he's perfect.

"Haley?"

_Crap!_ I jump about a mile in the air at the sound of Sam's voice approaching from behind me. Supersonic sound much?

"S-Sam! Hi, uh… what are you doing here?" I ask, risking a glance behind me to where Nathan and Dan were doing warm-ups. Oh no, they've seen me.

No! Dan's walking over.

"I think the question is, what are _you _doing here Miss James?" he asks, walking over with that cocky grin on his face. "I think stalking is actually illegal."

"I wasn't stalking," I protest, feeling my face flare up. "I was… uh, I was just walking in the park. It's not like you _own _the park." Lame, I know, but I feel so embarrassed that my brain and mouth aren't co-operating with each other.

Sam steps forward and links his arm though mine. My eyes widen in horror, what is he doing?

"She was walking with me, Mr Scott," he says. I risk a glance at Nathan who is looking at me with his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, well, you _do _move fast, don't you Peyton," Dan says. I look at Nathan again who's walking closer to us, glaring at Sam.

"It's Haley," I say through gritted teeth, not taking my eyes of Nathan and sending him telepathic messages that I'm not here with Sam.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my mistake. Guess I just liked Peyton better. Well, now that the two of you aren't together anymore, maybe you could get back with her son. Such a nice girl. And she had good breeding too." He directed the last part at Nathan, who is still glaring at Sam. I feel Sam stiffen beside me, obviously noticing the fire in Nathan's eyes.

Oh my God, he's _jealous_.

"Leave it Dad," Nathan says angrily.

"Let's go then. Looks like you got out of that one just in time. Who knows what kind of diseases you could have got if you'd stayed together? Haley's already onto her next conquest. Oh wait, I forgot. Nathan was the one who cheated on _you,_ wasn't he? Ouch, that must have _hurt_."

I hate Dan Scott. I want to murder Dan Scott. Just once, I wish Nathan would lose his cool and _hit _Dan Scott.

Again, someone must be answering my prayers because Nathan does lose his cool. He swings out and his fist connects with Dan's jaw. Dan, who was looking at me, doesn't expect the blow and can't parry, so he goes flying into the tree I was just hiding behind.

"Whoa!" Sam cries, his arms still linked in mine. I shrug it out and run up to Nathan.

"Nathan! What did you… why did you…" I'm at a loss for words.

Nathan looks up from Dan and stares at me. His blue eyes see through to my soul and I know that he knows I'm not with Sam. That I could never do that. I want to fling my arms around him, kiss him, tell the world that I love him.

"What the hell!" Dan roars, and all our eyes are drawn back to him.

"We should get out of here," I say, grabbing Nathan by the hand and dragging him away before Dan can regain his composure and probably hit his son back.

"Wait, what about…" Sam shouts.

"Uh, we'll talk later, 'kay?" I shout back over my shoulder.

Nathan still hasn't said a word.

* * *

**AN: Ha ha, had to have a little Nathan Jealousy in there. Next chapter there shall be more Naley. Yay!**

**And Lorilozz, that's a really great idea. I might just have to use that somewhere XD**


	9. Hard Day's Night

**Little White Lies**

**Hard Day's Night**

**Haley**

"Haley, we have nowhere to go," Nathan says as I drag him out from the park. "And if any one sees us like this, holding hands, what do you thing they're going to think? We're supposed to be broken up."

"Broken up people don't get jealous," I say with a smile, heading over to Karen's Café.

"Actually, they do. You can't just switch your feelings off Hales, and also, how do you know I was jealous?" Nathan asks, still letting himself be dragged along.

"Oh please!" I say with a laugh. "You were glaring at Sam so much, I though fire was about to pop out of your eyes."

Nathan doesn't say anything for a couple of seconds, and then: "Okay, so maybe I was a bit jealous. But I mean come on! You're my wife and there you were, strolling arm in arm with some guy that I've never seen before!"

"You have seen him, he went to our school."

"Oh, well that's okay then. Seriously Hales, what were you doing with him."

I stop in the street and face Nathan, letting him read my eyes again. "I wasn't there with him, he just popped up out of nowhere and when your jerk of a father came along he stuck up for me. I was actually hiding behind a tree waiting for Dan to go away so I could speak to you."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you when we're somewhere more private." I start dragging him along again.

"But where? My house is off limits because Lucas and my mom will be there, and pretty soon my dad will be too. Peyton's is out of bounds because of Brooke and Peyton, so where else is there?"

"Here."

We look up and 'Karen's Café' looks back at us.

"Here? Haley, have you lost it? My mom works here, the rest of the gang are always here."

"Just, trust me, okay?" I ask, leading Nathan round to the alleyway where I know there's a fire escape leaving up to the roof. No one ever uses it anymore so it's locked off from the inside, but me and Lucas used to play up here when we were kids. We even talked about getting a mini golf course set up before Karen upped sticks and ran off to Italy, leaving Lucas to Dan and the café to Deb.

"This place is a mess," Nathan says as we reach the top. Admittedly, it couldn't win any health and safety awards, but it does serve the purpose of giving us some privacy, seeing as nowhere overlooks it and the walls are quite high.

"Oh stop complaining," I say, and twist around so that the two of us are facing. I reach up on my tip toes and start kissing him, soft and gentle to hard and passionate. Nathan's arms encircle me and I fall into them, kissing as if we haven't kissed for years. "I'm missing you," I say, in between kisses.

"Mmm, I'm missing you too," Nathan mutters, moving down to my neck.

"I think we should tell everyone the truth," I say, in between moans of pleasure. The kissing stops.

"What?" Nathan asks, looking up at me, his eyes filled with confusion. "Why? It's going okay. I even got Lucas to come out for drinks with me tonight, testing out my fake ID in Charlotte."

"Nathan, I miss you!" I say, and feel tears spring to my eyes as my throat thickens. "I'm sick of pretending! I'm sick of not being with you all the time. .I was telling the girls what our fight was about - about me hanging around with another guy too much and having feelings for him - and I hated it! I could never have feelings for anyone other than you, and this is… it's just too hard! I love you, why do we have to run from that?"

Nathan stares at me for a while, at a loss for what to say, and then he reaches up and wipes the tears from my eyes. "Shh," he whispers, pulling me into a hug. "We're not running from anything, we're just… playing a game that has _nothing _to do with how much I love you."

"I can't even remember why we're doing this," I whisper, clutching onto Nathan with all my strength, scared that if I let go he'll be gone again.

"So I don't get disowned, so that when we go back to college we can spend all our time together without my dad messing things up for us. Lets face it Hales, money isn't the only motivation here. Dan Scott is evil. He'll pay someone to doctor your grades, to make it so that I never get the ball, or get put on the bench all the time. He can ruin anything. We need to keep this up Hales, just for a little while and then we can make a big show of getting back together, okay?"

I let go of Nathan and wipe my tears. "Fine," I mutter. I know he's right, but I so wanted to end this that the disappointment is crippling me.

"Hales, please don't be like that…"

"Like what? Like my _husband_ wants to pretend he's not my husband?" I know I'm being unfair, but I can't help it. My throat thickens again and I curse the God of tears.

"Hales, it's not like that! I love being your husband, just… I can't be. Not while we're here. Not now that we've gone this far."

"The funny thing is, it was me who started this, but it seems like you're the only one enjoying it."

"Enjoying it? Haley, are you kidding me? When I got here, my friends looked at me like I was a bug! My own brother wanted to disown me! Yeah, this is a laugh-a-minute Hales!"

I bite my lip and take a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm tired! And we haven't even been here a full day yet!"

"I know."

"Also, um… I've kind of got a date with Sam tomorrow night…"

Silence, then "_What?_"

"It had nothing to do with me!" because it didn't, not really. "We met on the bus down from Charlotte and when we got back Brooke invited him to join us for coffee here and she arranged this whole date! What could I do?"

Nathan's eyes have heated up again. "You could have said no!"

"I tried," I protest, because I did. "Brooke said I needed to get out there and get over you!"

Nathan turns his back to me and paces. "God, I can't believe this! My wife is going on a date! My _wife!"_

I reach out and grab Nathan's arm. He stops pacing and looks at me. "Look, it's not as if anything is going to happen. In fact, we'll use the phone system!" I say, amazed at my brilliant plan. Well, okay, so it's not _that _great, but it's better than Nathan worrying about me all night.

"The what?" Nathan asks.

"You know, about twenty minutes into the date you give me a ring and pretend to be a friend in an emergency. The gorier the better."

Nathan narrows his eyes but doesn't say anything. Then he shakes his head in this really annoying way, like he's ashamed of me or something.

"Well, I could just sit the whole date out," I tell him. "Sit for several hours with this guy who is, lets face it, a little bit attractive…"

"You think he's attractive?"

I can't help but smile. "Not at all, I just wanted to shock you so that you'd stop giving me that look. Will you give me the phone call?"

Nathan takes a deep breath. "Yeah."

* * *

"Oh tutor girl, that dress is _not _flattering. It makes you look hippy."

I roll my eyes and discard the third 'unflattering' dress that I've tried on. As if going on a date with some guy wasn't bad enough, Sam got us reservations at a really posh restaurant, so I can't even go in jeans and a sweatshirt. No, I have to dress _up_. This sucks so bad.

"I kind of like the black one," Peyton says with a shrug, while Brooke throws her a death glare.

"The black one was 'mumsy'. No bust, no waist, no legs equals no second date, okay?"

"I don't want a second date," I whine, flinging myself on Peyton's bed with my 'hippy' purple dress. "I don't want a _first _date. Can't I just ring and say I feel sick?"

"Haley, this isn't school, okay? You can't 'ring in sick' to a date."

I cross my arms across my chest and glare into space. I rang Nathan again when I got back in last night, and I think Dan actually congratulated him on his strong punch, though said that defending an ex was 'weak'. Nathan's been punished with extra training. By the time he goes back to college, he's going to be unable to walk, let alone play basketball.

"Look," Brooke says now, with a softer voice mistaking my thinking for moping. "I know that Nathan hurt you bad… well, you hurt each _other_, but the trick is to get back out there! Get back into the game now, or you'll end up a lonely old spinster with millions of dogs."

"Isn't it cats?" I ask.

Brooke pulls a face. "I like dogs better. Now come on, try the red dress on, that one's cute."

* * *

An hour later I'm sat at _'The Red Room'_ trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey with my 'cute' red dress which is digging into my rib cage, my long hair twisted up into a tight chignon which is acting essentially like a face lift, and 'subtle' make-up that makes me feel like a clown. Sam has said how great I look about fifty times which is actually, believe it or not, not making me feel that great.

"So… uh, how's college?" Sam asks, attempting small talk while we look over out menus.

"Oh, it's great. I love it. Me and Na… uh, my room mate Gwen are having the best time. How about you? Where do you actually go, because I don't think I've even asked yet."

Sam smiles at me and rubs his brow. "I go to Sanford. I got the plane down to Charlotte and then the bus to here."

"Stanford? Really?" Wow, that was my dream school for the _longest _time. "I used to really want to go there!"

"Really, why didn't you?"

"I wanted to be with Nathan."

Sam pulls a sympathetic face. "So, you regret going?"

"What? No, not at all."

"But, now that the two of you have split up, it must be kind of awkward. Don't you ever wish you'd just gone to Stanford instead? Went somewhere because of you and not him?"

Whoa there boy! Slow down. I want to punch him for saying that, but in a way he kind of has a point. Because of Nathan, I changed a lot of my life plan, but I wouldn't want it any other way. "It's not like that," I say. "To me, it was more important to be with Nathan than to go to a certain college when I could learn the same thing at Duke anyway."

"So, why didn't Nathan go to Stanford? Wasn't it as important to him that the two for you were together?"

"_Yes_," I snap, because Sam's probing is starting to annoy me. I mean, surely it's not normal to be this personal on a date? I wouldn't really know, I've never actually had one. With Lucas we were friends so long before we dated that there was no point in going _out _for a date. With Nathan, there was the whole drama thing and the closest we got to a date was a trip to the arcade. "Yes, it was as important. He was willing to go to Stanford too, but in the end we chose by picking the name out of a hat."

Sam raises his eyebrows. "Wow, what a way to pick your future." The way he says it has me wanting to smack him over the head with my menu. I look at my watch and frown when I realise I've only been here ten minutes. Maybe Nathan could ring early? Maybe his guilt will eat away at him so much that he'll ring in the next minute.

… Or the one after that.

"Can I take your order?"

The polite tones of the waiter bring me back into this restaurant where I'm having my stupid date with stupid Sam. And I don't care that I'm being unfair. I want Nathan.

"Uh, are we getting starters?" Sam asks, interrupting my thoughts once more.

"Yeah, sure," I say, thinking that a starter is all I'll be able to manage in the ten minutes until Nathan calls me. "I'll have the Prawn Cocktail…uh, thingie."

Sam smirks - sorry, smiles - at me and orders something with duck.

"And for the main course?" The waiter goes on. Damn, I forgot you have to order them at once. I open the menu quick.

"I'll have the _Coq au Vin,_" Sam says, and I roll my eyes at how pretentious he sounds.

"You wouldn't have mac and cheese, would you?" I ask sweetly. After a blank look from both Sam and the waiter, I decide my order should probably be altered. "Okay, um… I'll have Lasagne."

"_Lasagne Al Forno_?" The waiter asks and I resist the urge to roll my eyes again. Seriously, what is the difference? Ugh!

"Sure," I say with a sigh. The waiter takes the menus and scuttles off. I look at my watch again.

Sam smirks - sorry, smiles - again and leans over the table a little. "God, I hate how pretentious everything is here," he says with a slight laugh in his voice.

"What, like you?" I ask, and then realise how rude that sounded. I put my hand to my mouth and wish I could rope the words back. "Oh God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that!"

Sam, surprisingly, doesn't look remotely offended, but instead starts laughing at me. "Yes you did. I admit it, these kind of restaurants always bring out the worst in me. If I didn't want to impress you so much I probably would have took you to McDonalds or something."

I laugh. "Ah, see now we have a problem, because I'm a _Wendy's _kinda gal."

"Well then, I think you should leave right now," Sam jokes. Despite myself - oh dear Lord, despite myself - I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself. To be honest, I'm not even looking at this as a date, more of a 'friends' kind of deal.

"Oh crap," Sam whispers, looking over my shoulder.

"What?" I ask, starting to turn around.

What is _he _doing here?

"I don't want to ruin the night, but your ex is here."

* * *


	10. This Unstable House of Cards

**Little White Lies**

**This Unstable House of Cards**

**Nathan**

Haley is going to kill me. Seriously, I'm getting _murdered_ when we get back to Duke. Maybe even beforehand if all of this 'we're not dating' thing blows over.

"Uh Mom, maybe we should go somewhere else," I say, not able to take my eyes off Haley who is glaring at me while her new boyfriend is trying to look at me without really looking at me. What are the chances? Seriously? I wish Haley had given me a heads up on where she would be so I could, you know, _not _be there.

Mom turns around to me with a confused look on her face. She obviously hasn't seen my 'ex' yet. "Why sweetie, it's great in here. It's my favourite restaurant, probably because it's the only place I haven't been to with your dad," she says, and her face looks so hopeful that I feel guilty for even suggesting we leave.

"Right. Okay," I say softly as the Maitre'D approaches us. _Please not a table next to Haley, please not a table next to Haley._

"Let me show to your seat," he says.

And takes us to a table right next to Haley. What the hell is _wrong _with the world today?

At that moment, Mom finally sees Haley, and her eyes shoot up to mine in understanding. "Oh, is there another table?" she asks the Maitre'D, who is folding a napkin. The Maitre'D looks at us confused. "No, I'm afraid we're fully booked, but if another table comes up I'll tell you." He must feel the tension between us and the table next to us, because he keeps shooting glances at them. Because he's done it, I feel my eyes start to wander to Haley who I've kind of avoided looking at since we sat here.

She's mad. Really mad.

Which makes me ask the question, why? Was she having a good time or something? And just like that, my mood darkens. I was hoping to be able to do the twenty minute thing from in here, but how can I when the two of them are sat _right there_?

"We can... we can leave, if you want to?" Mom says, looking uncomfortable and sympathetic both at the same time. I can tell it's in her nature to say hello to Haley, but she doesn't want to look like she's betraying me. I look over to the table where they're sat and see them talking. There's a big enough gap between us that I'd only be able to make it out if I were listening hard, but I don't think I want to hear what they're talking about on their _date_.

"No," I say, resigned because if I were the old me, we'd be out of there in a heartbeat, regardless of my mom's feelings. Still, if I were the old me we wouldn't need to because I wouldn't have married Haley in the first place. However, the new me obviously loves torture as he wants to watch his _wife _on a _date_, just because he doesn't want to upset his Mom.

The new Nate… is a loser.

"I know you love it here, so I guess I'm okay with it."

Mom smiles at me. "I'm so proud of you Nate," she says softly. "You've grown into a beautiful and gracious man."

"Mom!" She's obviously choosing to ignore the whole 'I slept with my girlfriends room mate' thing. It's kind of refreshing actually, to get away from it for one night. "So, uh…" I say, signifying that I'm getting onto a topic that I'd rather not but feel I have to. "What's happening with you and Dad? I thought you were asking him for a divorce."

Mom sighs. "I did, but you know how stubborn your father can be. I'm his property in his eyes, he owns me, so it's going to be a little while before I can break free."

"Why don't you just leave him?" I ask, feeling weird that we're talking about my Dad this way. Mom sighs again and I see unspilled tears in her eyes. I put my hand on hers trying to comfort her and she smiles at me gratefully.

"Because Nate, it's hard to run away when you're scared to even walk."

* * *

Surprisingly, I'm kind of enjoying myself. It seems like years since me and my mom have had a proper talk, and I never realised how much I miss her when she's not around.

I look down at my watch. _Shit!_ It's been 45 minutes since I got here, which is _way _more than twenty. I risk a glance at Haley who is looking pointedly at her watch. _Shit!_ Okay, okay don't panic. I'll just have to… go to the bathroom! Yeah, that's what I'll do, I'll go to the bathroom.

"I'm just gunna go the little boys room," I tell my mum quickly, grabbing my cell phone out of my jacket pocket which is on the back of the chair before I go.

The bathroom here is what a poncey person would describe as 'swish', but seeing as I'm not poncey (seriously, no jokes please), let's just say it's kind of nice. I take my phone out and start to press speed dial 1 when the bathroom door open.

And in walks Sam.

Again, what is _wrong _with the world today?

"Hey," Sam greets, hanging around by the door and not really doing anything except looking at me nervously.

"Uh, hey," I greet back, giving my best suspicious glare. What? He's on a date with my wife for God's sake.

Sam opens his mouth to say something then stops. I realise that I probably looks just as dumb as he does so I make my way over to the urinal. Sam follows. We don't say a word because it's like this unspoken law that you _don't _make small talk with the person next to you when they're both doing their business.

When we both finish we move over to the sink. At the same time. Something is up here.

"Uh look," Sam says, now that we're away from the urinals. "I… I know you and Haley had this huge… _thing _going on together, but what's going on? I mean, it can't be just a coincidence that you're here, right?"

I raise my eyebrows. Is this guy for real? "Well, it _is _just a coincidence. I had no idea Hales would be here, and my mom decided on this place."

Sam nods. "Right, okay then." Something about his tone tells me that he doesn't really believe me.

"Look man, what's your problem? You're on a date with my w… my ex-girlfriend, and you're in here grilling _me?_"

"Hey, I'm not grilling you, okay? I just wanted to know where I stand with Haley."

"Well then you should probably be asking her, not me."

"Do you still love her?"

"_What?_" My mouth drops open in shock. "What the hell business is that of yours?"

Sam shrugs, starting to look nervous. I mean, the guy's tall, but he's got the whole beanpole thing going on. I on the other hand play basketball and spend a lot of time training. I could _so _take him.

"It's not, I'm sorry I asked it's just… it's just the way you look at her, and the way you punched your own dad yesterday for insulting her, I just… I just wondered if there was still something between the two of you."

I nod and clench my fists. "For your information, I _do _love Haley, and as far as I'm concerned, you don't stand a chance!" With that I storm out of the bathroom, my cell phone still in my clenched fists and still not making the call to Haley. Shit.

* * *

"Nathan!" Haley hisses when Sam goes to the toilet for the second time, later on in the night. Mom looks over at her confused, but doesn't say anything.

"What?" I hiss back.

"What are you doing here?"

Mom turns to face Haley and gives an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry Haley, I suggested it, I had no idea you would be here."

Haley opens her mouth again, but her eyes soften. "Don't worry about it." She turns back to me and her eyebrows narrow again. "Where the hell is my phone call?"

I give a cocky smirk. "Can't wait to get away, huh?"

Haley's eyebrows raise and she matches my smirk. "Actually I'm having a _fantastic _time, I'm just worried if I stay here another second I might _Fall in Love _with him or something!"

"Okay, okay, I get the point!" I mutter, while Mom still looks between us confused.

"What's going on here," she asks.

"Nice one Haley," I hiss. Haley bites her lip.

"Well, maybe your Mom can know anyway?" she suggests, and my mouth drops open.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No!" She says defensively. "I just… come on, she's not Dan."

"I'm sat right here," Mom says, starting to look annoyed. "What are the two of you talking about?"

"Your boyfriends coming back," I mutter. Haley pulls a face but sits back as Sam approaches, sitting down and throwing me a wary look.

"Nathan, what the hell is going on."

I look at my mom and I can't get Haley's suggestions out of my head. _'Well, maybe your Mom can know anyway?'_

You know what? Maybe she can.

* * *

"God Nathan, anyone would think you _wanted _to see me on a date with another guy."

I roll my eyes at Haley's sarcastic tone and turn to my Mom. "Can you hear something, like an annoying little buzz?"

"Very funny Nathan. Why the hell did it take you so long to call?" Haley asks, and from the front seat I can imagine her pouting in the back. I turn to her and grab her hand. Thankfully she doesn't let go.

"I went to call and that idiot followed me into the toilet, then I was mad at him interrogating me so I kind of… sulked."

"Sam interrogated you?" Haley asks, and bursts out laughing soon after.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

"Nothing, just the image of _Sam _interrogating _you_. It's kind of funny, if you think about it."

Mom stops the car in front of Peyton's house. "This is your stop, isn't it Haley?" She asks, sounding annoyed as hell. Probably because she can't fathom why we've been acting so weirdly.

"Isn't Dad away on business tonight?" I ask. Mom looks from me to Haley, and then to our joined hands.

"What's going on Nate? Because for two people who've had this big overwrought break-up, you're not acting terribly like it."

"Lucas is at Brooke's, and Dad is away for the night. I'll tell you everything when we get home Mom. All of us."

Haley holds my hand tighter and I can see the tears in her eyes. I turn back to her. "I love you."

* * *

"Okay, so maybe now _someone _can tell me what the hell is going on," Mom declares, banging cupboards about in the kitchen as me and Haley sit down on the couch, our hands still joined.

"I can't believe you waited outside for us," I whisper.

"I had to, Sam insisted on waiting for someone to pick me up. He didn't even offer me a ride home. I just told him that I was really upset and would appreciate the time alone."

"What did you tell him?"

"That my sister Elinor had an accident."

"Isn't that tempting fate? Wait a second, you don't…"

"Have a sister called Elinor, exactly."

Mom comes storming into the living room with a cup of coffee. She slams it down on the coffee table and glares at us. "So what's going on?" She asks, staring between the two of us. I take a deep breath and pull a chain from around my neck. On the end of the chain are two rings. Mine and Haley's, our wedding rings.

Mom looks at them, confusion written on her face. She takes a couple of steps forward and her mouth drops open. "Please tell me those are just badly picked out promise rings," she says. "Because they look an awful lot like…"

"Wedding rings," Haley whispers. "They're _our _wedding rings."

Mom looks between us, her expression one of complete and utter shock. "You're…"

"Married," I say.

"What is with everyone finishing my sentences!" she exclaims, sitting down on the chair opposite us. "I… I can't believe this. You're _eighteen _Nathan! Eighteen years old. You have all the time in the world to get married… why, why would you _do _that?"

I stare at my mom and smile. I squeeze Haley's hand and turn to look at her. Her dark brown eyes look straight into mine and I wonder how the hell I did so good. How I got Haley James to marry me. How I can be so in love. I open my mouth to answer but Haley gets there first.

"Why wait?" she asks, still looking at me. "I've never felt about anyone the way I feel about Nathan. I wanted to show him how much he means to me, and marriage allowed me to do that." She turns to my mom. "I don't expect you to understand Mrs Scott, but I _do _expect you to be happy for us. We need some support and… well, we're trusting you with this secret Deb. That's got to mean something, right?"

I turn to Mom as well, and silently plead for her to be happy for us. I feel Haley tighten her grip on my hand.

"I… congratulate you," Mom says, tears in her eyes. "And I'll keep your secret, but I am _not _happy for you. Don't you see that you're too young?" With that, she gets to her feet and leaves, leaving me and Haley on our own.

* * *


	11. 7 Minutes in Heaven

**AN: Sorry for the _really _long wait for this update. I actually wrote it a while ago, but for the last week or so I've been unable to upload. An error message kept coming up. Anyway, it's here now, though there won't be one for a while after this either because I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks. :(**

**Hope you like this, because I'm not sure I do**

**Little White Lies**

**7 Minutes in Heaven**

**Haley**

I look at Nathan as soon as Deb leaves, wondering how he's feeling. You know, you would think that being married would make me perfectly adept at interpreting Nathan's feelings and acting accordingly, but no such luck apparently because at the moment most of my body is telling me to hug Nathan and comfort him, but then this other part tells me to ask him how he's doing, and the other part tells me to jump his bones. Its confusing as hell.

"Uhm…" I stutter, trying to think of something - _anything _- to say, and failing horribly. "Uhm…"

Nathan turns to look at me, his cobalt eyes cold and distant and I fear that he's going to turn on me. Turn his frustration towards his mother at me. While I know I would be extremely pissed off at the injustice of this, I kind of want him to do it, just so I know where I'm standing. Besides, I'd rather Nathan got his emotions out one way or another rather than bottling them up.

"We shouldn't have told her," Nathan says, his voice as cold and distant as his eyes. I take a deep breath and get ready for the fireworks, but surprisingly, they don't come. Instead, Nathan's brow furrows and his eyes get soft, almost like he's going to… Oh God, I think he's going to cry. I've never seen him cry before. What do I do?

"Nathan," I whisper, deciding to just go with instinct and put my arm around him. He bites his lip an stares into the distance, stiffening as I hug him. He's trying to be strong, and I know that he thinks if he breaks down I'll see him as some kind of wimp, but to be honest if he didn't cry I'd think there was something wrong with him. "I know that you wanted her to support us, but she's probably just trying to come to terms with it. Just give her a little time, okay?"

Nathan finally loosens up and embraces me. I melt into his arms an rest my cheek on his shoulder.

"I love you Hales," he says, his voice thick with emotion.

"I love you too."

Nathan pulls away and his eyes are back to normal. If he's cried, then it certainly hasn't showed. Instead, his cocky smirk appears and his eyes light up with mischief. "You know, if you don't go home tonight Peyton will just think you got lucky with Seth."

"Sam," I correct him, wondering where he's going with this. Oh God, I'm so slow. Of course I know where he's going with this. "We can't. Not with your Mom…"

"Mom's on the other side of the house. That's like, three miles away," Nathan says, obviously exaggerating and leaning over, kissing my neck. Oh, why is he doing this?

"Nathan," I try, but it's no use. My whole body has melted towards him as he seeks out my lips with his own. I catch them and we kiss hungrily, falling into the back of the sofa. It's been so long since we did this, so long since we've been close, and I want him so bad.

What's one little night together?

Nathan strokes my shoulder and lowers the thin spaghetti strap of my red dress, lowering his head to kiss the place where it once rested. I reach down and undo the buttons of his shirt, fumbling because what Nathan is doing to me feels so good. Finally, after what seems like far, _far _too long, his shirt is undone and I reach down to kiss his chest, downwards to his hard torso. He lifts my head up and starts kissing me again, getting to his feet and grabbing me by the waist. I wrap my legs around him as my dress falls down to my waist. The two of us stumble upstairs to his room, being as quiet as we can…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Brooke**

"What do you mean, she didn't come in last night?" I ask, staring at Peyton like she's speaking Portuguese. Actually, if Peyton was speaking Portuguese I'd… well, I don't know what I'd do. She'd be speaking Portuguese for heavens sake.

"You heard me. I was up till 3 in the morning working on an art project for college, and she didn't show up. She's not in bed this morning either, which means she's pulled an all-nighter," Peyton says, sitting on her couch with her robe wrapped tight around her. I think I woke her up when I called around, but I mean, it's 12 O'clock people!

"With Sam?" I ask, just to verify.

"With Sam," Peyton replies, stifling a yawn.

Wow. The date must have gone well then, because Haley sure didn't seem like she wanted to go last night. "Wow," I say out loud, because it is quite a monumental occasion, when you think about it. Little Haley "I don't believe in sex until after marriage" James has pulled an all-nighter on a first date.

"Did she ring you to check in?" I ask.

"Nope. Not last night. I'd be worried about her, but she rang this morning at like seven a.m to tell me she was okay, and that she'd be home later."

"Wow," I say again. "Rebound sex must be good."

Peyton raises her eyebrows and throws a cushion at me. "Brooke!" she cries. "It's one guy. Give her a break. You've been with _way_ more, without such a good excuse."

"It's not one guy," I say, lowering my voice to a whisper which is stupid because Haley's not even here. "First off, there was Nathan…"

"Brooke, for Gods sake, she was dating him for, like, a year!"

"Yeah, but she said no sex until after marriage. I mean, Yeah, I get around, but I've never had principles…"

"Well, that's certainly true."

I ignore Peyton's '_humorous' _little comment and carry on. "Then the night I rang, she said that 'Rick' was in the shower in a really nonchalant way, like it wasn't the first time."

"Who is Rick?" Peyton asks.

"I don't know, some random, whatever _so _not important. What is important is that… that Haley's changed."

"Brooke, are you okay?" Peyton asks, and I know that it sounds like an odd question, but she's probably seen my face which looks seriously confused. To be honest though, I'm not confused at all. Something in my head has just clicked into place. Something that's been niggling for a while now.

"I need to go… somewhere. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Brooke, where are you going?" Peyton asks, but I ignore her. I jump to my feet and head for my car, all the while thinking about loads of little things that haven't added up. Not until now at least. Now everything seems to add up perfectly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I was sat on my bed, painting my toe nails with one hand - Static Scarlet, in case you're wondering - and holding the phone receiver to my ear with my other hand. My roommate Hannah was out so I had the dorm to myself, which meant a serious gossip session with Haley about the workings of Naley. At least, that's what I had hoped._

_After a few rings, the phone was answered by Haley, which was the plan, of course. After the usual greetings and teasing, we got down to business._

"_Haley! I am so excited about next week, aren't you?" I left a pause expecting an excited squeal of agreement, but none came. At the time, I thought it was odd, but after the conversation I put it down to sadness that she would be going bak to Tree Hill without her soul mate, because I've always thought that Haley and Nathan were soul mates. Especially after everything they've been through with Rob and everything._

_Anyway, so Haley didn't reply, so I carried on. "I can't wait to see everyone. I mean, I know Lucas isn't too far away from me - he's in the next state - but still, it's going to be so much fun the whole of us being together again. Just like old times!"_

_Finally Haley deigned to comment, and this was the little gem she came out with: "Brooke, there will be _one _major change."_

_This just excited me. My imagination wasn't quite capable of coming up with something, but my inbuilt sense for gossip told me it was going to be juicy. "Ooh! Like what? Good or bad?"_

"_Good. Well, I think it's good. I mean… no, yes, no it's good. Yup, good, good, good."_

_See, I didn't think about that later on. Haley was just about to tell me that she had broken up with the love of her her life - because really, I still think he is the love of her life, and vice versa - and she was saying it was _good_? If I wasn't so busy trying to come up with an explanation, I would have gave more thought to that. After more of a push, Haley carried on._

"_Me and Nathan have… went just about as far as it is possible for two people to go."_

_Naturally, I jumped to this conclusion: "You had sex! Right? _Right!_"_

"_Um, even further than that…"_

_After some shock and inredulation from yours truly, I kind of jumped to conclusions and didn't let her finish her next sentence, which was: "Brooke, we've went to the last level in a relationship, we've…"_

"_Oh my God! You guys have broken up, haven't you? This is terrible! Oh my God! It's never going to be the same again… what happened? Is it definitely over? Is there no way of a reconciliation?"_

_And instead of saying yes, Haley said, "Uhm… how the hell did you come to that conclusion?" If I hadn't been so shocked I would have looked further into this. I'd got it right, so why was she surprised? Unless I hadn't got it right. Unless… well, I think what I said in reply answers it far better than anything I could come up with._

"_the last level in a relationship… it's the break-up. Right? I mean, except for marriage, and that's just ridiculous."_

'Except for marriage, and that's just ridiculous.'

_And then I dug even deeper. I didn't let Haley answer, I just jumped in with "God, can you imagine Dan Scott if Nathan got married? Insane doesn't even come into it! He'd probably cut him off. In fact, he'd probably financially castrate him. And then there's everyone else. I mean, marriage is just silly at your age, isn't it? With college and everything."_

_I didn't give her a chance to answer, and then I scared her._

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_The next morning Haley rang me again. One part of the conversation which is ringing alarm bells now which barely even registered then backs it up. It seemed like a slip of the tongue, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was the most truthful Haley's been:_

"_Uh… Brooke, Nathan and I never broke up…"_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Wait… Lucas is grilling Nathan? Oh I hope he's not being too hard on him…"_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_But I don't want to forget about Nathan"…_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_It's Haley S…"_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Well, you can't just um… turn your feelings on and off like a tap. I'm in… I was in love with Nathan. I can't help but get a little concerned about him every now and then."_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I've got to get out of here. I've got to see Nathan."_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I don't want a second date, I don't want a first date. Can't I just ring and say I feel sick?"_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Holy Crap! Haley and Nathan are married!


	12. Same Old Stuff

**AN: I know, I know, I suck soooo bad. I took ages to write this because no matter what I did, I didn't like it. I still don't, really, but I don't want to make you wait any more so here it is. I apologise in advance for the badness, and I apologise in hindsight for the lateness.**

**I really don't deserve all you magnificent reviewers, but... please reveiew anyway? Constructive criticism is BEGGED FOR!**

* * *

**Little White Lies**

**Same Old Stuff**

**Nathan**

We've both been awake for about three hours and neither of us want to get out of bed. It's like we've found somewhere to escape this huge lie we've got ourselves caught in, and we don't want to walk out of it. We want to stay like this forever. Lying side by side with no worries in the world, Haley's head nestled into the crook of my arm.

Lucas came in the house about an hour ago but thankfully he isn't in the habit of storming into my bedroom, and so we're waiting for him to go out again before Haley sneaks out. Mom left early this morning, probably for Karen's Café. I know I really hated the way she reacted last night - and don't get me wrong, it still hurts - but a part of me is just relieved that someone knows. The secrets lost some of it's power somehow, it's less suffocating.

"Can't we just pause the world," Haley asks, mirroring my thoughts exactly. I smile and kiss her temple.

"I wish we could," I say. "I'd never leave. I'm never more content than when I'm with you Hales. You're my world, you're the most important thing to me."

Haley smiles up at me and nestles in closer. "And you're the most important thing to me. I mean, I love our friends and I would never want to live without them, but it's you that I think of before I go to sleep, you that enters my thoughts as soon as I wake up. You're… you're everything Nathan. I love you so much."

I'm about to reply, something gushy and romantic because that's the kind of mood we seem to be in, but I hear someone outside the door and all words die on the way from my brain to my mouth. The door handle starts to turn and Haley puts her hand in mine, clutching it tight.

"Lucas, what the hell are you doing?" I yell out, but when the door swings open it's not Lucas, it's Brooke.

"Brooke?" Haley cries out, sitting up and pulling the sheets tight around herself. "What… what are you…" Only she doesn't seem able to finish any sentences.

"Oh my God," Brooke whispers. "I… I can't believe it. I thought that…" she stops and gives a dry laugh, the kind that tells me she isn't too amused. "I thought I was letting my imagination run away with me, but I'm not, am I? You two are _married_!"

Haley opens her mouth, obviously trying to come up with some kind of an excuse, but her whole body freezes when she realises what Brooke said last. How the hell does she know that? Haley's hand goes limp in mine.

"How did you know?" I ask, because Haley looks too dumbstruck to ask herself.

Brooke leans against the doorframe, almost like she can't support herself properly. "Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist. I just put everything together. Luckily everyone else is as dumb as you banked on."

"Brooke, it's not like that," I say, because it's not. Its not as if we came into this wanting to lie to our friends. We're the ones suffering most from it.

"Well, what is it like?" Brooke asks.

Suddenly Haley seems to reanimate. She grips my hand again and I grip it back. "We were scared Brooke. We put off telling you because we were petrified about how everyone would react, and when you rang… I was going to tell you, I really was. I _tried _telling you, but then you said how Dan would cut Nathan off if he got married, and you were right. He would, and more than that, he'd do his very best to break us up, to ruin our lives at college. I mean, you know what Dan's like…"

"So you _lied _to us?" Brooke asks, her wide olive eyes filled with hurt.

Haley doesn't say anything, but instead lets out a racking sob and a nod.

"We're sorry," I say, pulling Haley to my chest where she cries. It's heart breaking. "We rang the next day to tell you, but then you said how you told everyone and we didn't see any way out of it, so we played along. It all got a bit out of hand…"

"A _bit_?" Brooke asks, still leaning against the door. "My God, I… I can't believe it. You two are _married_?"

"I am so sorry Brooke," Haley says, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am. I just… I got scared, and I didn't know what to do, so I lied more and dug us into this huge hole that I didn't have a clue how to get out of. It broke my heart to lie to you though. To lie to all of you, but we can't tell anyone. We can't!"

Brooke looks at us both and she takes a deep breath and sniffs heavily, like she's trying not to cry.

"If my dad finds out," I say, trying to reason with her. Haley's hand is still gripping mine furiously.

"Why? Why did you get married in the first place? You're 18."

"We love each other, and we didn't want to wait."

Brooke opens her mouth to say something else, but someone else gets there first.

"Brooke? Hey, I didn't hear you come in. What are you doing at Nathan's door?"

All three of us turn towards the voice in horror. Lucas. His voice is nearby and it's getting closer. Brooke stares towards him, her face frozen and it would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

Almost in slow motion Lucas appears at the door with a grin on his face, that twists to confusion all too quickly at the look on Brooke's face. He hasn't seen us yet and I see Haley eyeing the closet door as if trying to weigh up how likely it would be for her to jump in there before Lucas sees her. It wouldn't be very likely and we both know it.

Lucas looks in, and the confused frown freezes on his face. "What the…?"

Brooke jumps up and points at us. "Can you believe it Lucas?" she says in a really high strangled voice. She's going to tell on us.

"What's going on?" Lucas asks, looking from Haley to me and then back again.

"Isn't it obvious?" Brooke asks.

"Lucas, we're…" Haley starts, but Brooke throws her a warning glance.

"Oh don't you _dare _speak missy!" She says, her voice so harsh that it makes even me flinch. She turns back to Lucas. "They had _ex-sex!_"

The silence in the room is deafening, but it's like the tension that was in the air subsides as Haley and I realise Brooke isn't going to tell.

"What?" Lucas asks.

"It's textbook," Brooke goes on. "Girl has bad date, feels insecure about her self and goes to her ex as if trying to validate her sexuality. Boy feels horny, desperate girl comes to door and boy thinks all his birthdays have come at once. Ex-sex."

Oh Boy.

* * *

"You totally took advantage of her Nate!" Lucas shouts. I try not to flinch at how close we are, and my mind races for something to say. I'm also trying really hard not to look at Haley who is sat on the couch in last night's red dress. God, she looks so hot in it, especially with her hair all messed up post-sex style.

"It wasn't his…" Haley starts, but is cut off by Brooke who is pacing the room with her arms crossed.

"Shh!" she says loudly. "We haven't got to you yet. Just… just stay quiet, okay?" Her voice is shaky and Haley looks at her as if she's about to cry.

Right, time to think on the spot Nathan. Do I act all high and mighty - 'it's not my fault I'm so irresistible' kind of line - or do I act all sensitive and sweet - 'I'm still in love with her. I thought we were going to get back together.' Hmm, it's a tough one, especially when two other people in the room are going to see right through this. A part of me wonders why Brooke didn't just tell Lucas. Why she didn't let him in on our secret. Of course, I know I can't tell him. Lucas isn't a bad guy, but he's driven by his emotions, and if he doesn't like that me and Haley are engaged, he's going to find it hard to hide that. He could ruin everything if he knows.

"Yeah, I did," I say finally, looking at the floor. I can't look anywhere else. Seeing the sadness in Haley's eyes is heartbreaking, Looking at Brooke makes my chest constrict out of guilt, and looking at Lucas will make me want to tell the truth so much, I know I won't be able to keep lying. "I did, and I'm sorry… but I mean, I was drunk last night man."

"Drunk? Is that your answer to everything? You cheated on Haley because you were drunk too. Remember that? Do _you _remember that Haley?" Lucas turns away from me, and I risk a look up. Haley is staring at me and I can tell that she's trying not to look at Lucas.

"I… I do," Haley says after a pause.

I know what you're thinking. No really, I do. You're thinking 'why the _hell _don't they just tell him? What is the big deal?' Well, if you really want to know, here it is: Betrayal. Complete and utter betrayal. I mean, you saw the way Brooke reacted when she found out, what would Lucas be like? We may not have always had the best relationship, but after years it's finally working out, and he's my brother for God's sake! And Haley, I mean, I know the two of them used to date - another reason we can't tell him, betrayed twice by the same people - but they're really close. Like, practically best friends. If we told Lucas now, he would feel beyond betrayed, and I don't know if we could bounce back from that. Not unless another psycho Rob tries to burn me alive again. I have a feeling that would somehow make us bond, though I don't really think it would be worth it.

"So, the two of you have nothing t say for yourselves?" Lucas asks, crossing his arms. I know it's the totally wrong time to do it, but I laugh. I can't help it! He sounds like a disappointed teacher or something, and despite the situation being so terse and horrible - or maybe it's _beacuse _of that - I see the funny side, and I can't stop the laugh from rising up in my throat.

"Nathan!" Brooke scolds, though strangely enough she looks like she's about to laugh too. Another laugh enters, and I turn to see Haley burying her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking.

"What? You think this is _funny_, Nate? Huh? You think that taking advantage of a confused and desperate girl is _funny_?"

"Hey! Enough of the desperate please!" Haley bursts in through her giggles. This makes the two of us laugh more, and even Brooke is biting down on her lip. Lucas throws his hands up in exasperation.

"Forget it. I'm through trying to get through to the two of you." He stalks out the room.

"You two... God! You owe me so big," Brooke says, her tone deathly serious as she follows Lucas out. Me and Haley are left alone. She's stopped laughing and I can see that her eyes are watering. I get up and put my arms around her. Haley leans into it.

"Why didn't we just tell him we were getting back together?" She sobs, her shoulders shaking again but this time out of despair instead of merriment. "W-Why do we always make things so complicated for ourselves Nate?"

"Come on Hales," I whisper into her hair as she nuzzles against my chest. "We have to wait. We couldn't tell him then, it would have looked like a rebound kind of deal. I know its not easy, but if it was it wouldn't be worth it, and whatever we are Haley, we're worth it. Me a you, we're worth going through hell and back. I love you..."

Haley sniffs loudly. "I love you."


End file.
